“Cancer Girl”

While most young people are extremely selfish, disrespectful, rude, greedy, and all around narcissists, I encountered a young woman while at a local café close to where I live. I don’t know if it’s a sign of something but it just so happened to be the anniversary of my father’s death from a vehicle wreck that happened twenty years ago. The young woman was sitting on one of the benches just outside of the café eating a sandwich. I walked by to go in and place my order, then went back outside and sat down next to her. 
When I was about to go check on my food, I asked her if she’d watch my bag and she tells me that she was going to go in because she needed a napkin. So, I gave her some I had in my left pocket of my hoodie that weren’t used. I went in to get my salad and returned with more napkins. As I was eating, more people came around and decided to inside the café to order food and drinks. While many other young people were merely trying to just a get a seat in general, the young woman with cancer stepped inside the café for something while leaving her bag of food from the café still on the bench. Two other girls immediately grabbed the spot and when they saw the girl with cancer come back out and sit down with her bag, they looked away in disgust due to being selfish people.
I eventually went to the beach and was there for a little while. When I was in route home, the girl with cancer was still there outside the cafe, still soaking up the sun all by herself as she sang a little here and there with her earbuds on. In all, she was there for about an hour and a half, give or take. 
I had noticed when I sat beside her and even after I had left and returned, some people did notice while others carried on with their selfish lives, complaining about anything and everything. Some people who noticed quickly changed the conversations with their friend(s) or significant other because it’s obvious that their life isn’t as terrible as hers since she’s the one sick with cancer and they’re “healthy”. I can tell that she’s kind of young, maybe in her twenties or even thirties, at the oldest. I may have had to endure some bad times, but when I saw her, I know she felt alone.
Many young people take their life for granted. They are generally healthy, able bodied to do whatever, whenever, with whomever. Most young people indulge in excess of smoking, drugs, sex, and alcohol. Young people have so much ahead of them and they know it, so they don’t care about anyone or anything, they’re only greedy, extremely selfish for their wants. The young people in the city where I live, remind me of the high school characters in 1980’s movies, very clique oriented. Most of the young people who display that type of attitude and behavior weren’t even born or even conceived when most of the John Hughes movies were released in theatres! The odd thing, is that there’s something to learn from the situation I noticed from my day.

It doesn’t matter how old or young I am; I should never complain about my own personal part in life. There are MANY people who are worse off than me. After seeing the girl with cancer alone, I realized that it’s also a metaphor: that we feel we’re “alone” when we suffer. Many people who’ve gone bald from cancer, don’t go out their home other than to go to their medical appointments. This young woman proved just by her existence in a public setting and the condition she in, that took advantage of going out and enjoying the simple things in life: life itself, a meal that isn’t from the hospital, and sun rays! By noticing a stranger, I know I must be grateful and I feel inspired by their courage.