The Best Gift We Can Give Someone is Our Ears
There’s a comforting power in mindful listening
About a week ago that bastard named Cancer snuffed the life of my coworker Ray.
It started as a small spot on his tongue. Then like a vengeful and hungry scavenger, it scurried from one area of his body to the next — growing, multiplying, and leaving only devastation in its wake. It weaseled its way into his bones and then proceeded to gobble up his lungs. It hijacked his whole being.
He suffered greatly. He was poked, cut up, chemoed, radiated, and immunotherapied. At times, he struggled to eat. His weight plummeted. In the last few days, simply taking a breath became difficult. I can only imagine how terrifying this must have been for him. For two years he fought to stay alive and in the end, he labored to die.
He was only 42.
My coworker Joe visited Ray at his home about a week before he passed. They sat next to each other on the sofa under a comfy blanket. With an acute presence of mind and knowing that the end was near, Joe asked our ailing coworker a simple question.
What do you want to talk about?
Our dying coworkers answer? My illness. Cancer.
