Greetings friends of Peter and Katie. I'm back on station today, Monday, looking forward to a very full week here on the USC campus. I'm sure most of you can recall those first few weeks of your collegiate years and all of the excitement that goes along with it. Moving in to a new room, perhaps with new roommates......or with last year's buddies.....swapping "summer" adventure stories.......wrestling with your class schedule and finding our who your new professors are........spending an outrageous amount of money on books and supplies.......joining campus activities and social organizations......getting set for the fall campus season of athletic events, artistic programs, and just plain partying. There's a special energy on campus as school begins each year. Spirits are high; the future lies ahead. All is right with the world.

Of course, you probably also remember that soon enough, reality intrudes, and campus hoopla gives way to the grind it out, get it done, finish up mode with attendant tensions of papers due, final exams, and final grades. But for now, all that lies in the hazy, distant future. For now, it's time to celebrate the new beginnings of fall semester.

"New beginnings" is a theme for those of us, including friends and family, who battle cancer. Just as campus life is alive each fall with new expectations and opportunities, so too are those who win a reprieve from the big "C". Peter, Katie and their family contemplate their "new beginnings and opportunities" as they retreat together on the Cape. As with the collegiate crowd, however, they must still face remaining uncertainties and other painful battles before the final grades are in. We wish them well as they look toward a new future and deliberate its possibilities. It's an exciting, yet still scary time for them.

I left you on Friday with a brief description of Part I of my brother Barry's cancer journey, ending with the sudden and unexpected loss of his wife, Barbara. From the mountain top of "cancer free", Barry quickly and unexpectedly descended to the deepest valley when he lost his wife to leukemia within a period of six weeks. "Shock" is an appropriate word here. A phone call at about 3am delivered the news. I was stunned. My brother was in a daze. We did what had to be done, but in retrospect, it all seems surreal to me. How could this happen? Just at the moment of "victory", life unraveled in a hurry. Barbara was the faithful care giver---a woman of abiding faith, who lived her life carefully and by the rules. How could this be?

The predictable theological questions immediately confronted us. Could a loving God permit such an injustice to occur? Why Barbara----as true a servant of Jesus Christ and her church as ever could be? Surely, a God acting in His/Her own self interest would have wanted to keep someone such as Barbara toiling in the needy vineyards for a lot longer. The fundamental theological issue here, of course, concerns the nature of the basic relationship between a Creator and Creation. Many, if not most, believe that the relationship is an active one characterized by unpredictable interventions at the time and choosing of the Creator. Others believe that the Creator is more an observer and judge than an interventionist. Such tragedies as Barbara's unexpected death are more difficult for the former group of believers than the latter. Indeed, when life seems to be lost at random, those who believe in an interventionist Creator seem to be the ones at greatest risk to lose their faith.

I had the good fortune to read that wonderful book, "When Bad Things Happen to Good People", many years ago. Many of the observations made by its author somehow became lodged in my own perspective on this matter. In effect, the cause of loss is not the principal theological issue needing focus. It's what you DO in the face of loss that matters. Just as we rally around Peter and Katie and their family to provide assistance, support, and solace, the good things that result may ultimately outweigh the bad things that happened. Human concern, caring, sharing, and support are ultimately more important than identifying the culprit or assigning blame.

Having said that, I personally believe that a contributing factor, both to Barry's cancer, and Barbara's leukemia lies in the environmental poisons that have surrounded their life for the decades they have lived in the south valley of Albuquerque, NM. The heavy use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in the predominantly agricultural sector of the Rio Grande valley has produced a higher than "normal" incidence of cancer in that part of the city. Tests of the water supply feeding the river which runs through the city show traces of toxic poisons, including heavy metals. Some believe that nuclear weapons activities at Sandia Laboratory in Albuquerque and Los Alamos Laboratory near Santa Fe may be contributing to the problem. We all know that once poisons of whatever sort enter an aquifer, they can migrate to the full extent of the water supply. Of course, I have no irrefutable proof that there is a direct link here regarding Barbara's leukemia. The statistical research that I have seen, however, suggests that the connection is not unreasonable----indeed even likely.

That brings me back to the "What do you DO when Bad Things Happen to Good People", which of course, brings me back to Peter and many of you in the village who have committed yourselves to promoting a clean environment. If as a result of Peter's journey.....of Barry's journey.....of Barbara's journey.......those of us who love and respect these loved ones pick up the gauntlet or increase our commitment to a healthier, cleaner environment, then those battles (and losses) will not have not occurred in vain.

I'll continue this story tomorrow. A great deal more has happened along Barry's journey since Barbara left us summer a year ago. Not surprisingly, the peaks and valleys continue. More about that tomorrow.

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