While wandering around Mong Kong I was listening to Fresh Air and this collection of interviews with David Rakoff, who passed away. He was a writer and regular on This American Life, on Public Radio International. Most of his writing is humorous and sometimes some autobiographical non-fiction essays. He was talking about the cancer he had and about how it affected him. Just somethings I found interesting:
“One no longer has to worry about certain things at my age (47). … You can be sort of comfortable in your skin, even as your skin is rattled and ravaged and sun-damaged, and you no longer have to sort of explain things about yourself, and you no longer have to make excuses for yourself. And I think a certain kind of wisdom has kicked in for everybody, and people, I think, are a lot more accepting of the world and their place in it.”
On talking about why did I get this cancer (Why me)
“Writer Melissa Bank said it best: ‘The only proper answer to ‘Why me?’ is ‘Why not you?’ The universe is anarchic and doesn’t care about us, and unfortunately, there’s no greater rhyme or reason as to why it would be me. And since there is no answer as to why me, it’s not a question I feel really entitled to ask.
"And in so many other ways, I’m so far ahead of the game. I have access to great medical care. My general baseline health, aside from the general unpleasantness of the cancer, is great. And it’s great because I’m privileged to have great health. And I live in a country where I’m not making sneakers for a living, and I don’t live near a toxic waste dump.
"You can’t win all the contests and then lose at one contest and say, ‘Why am I not winning this contest as well?’ It’s random. So truthfully, again, do I wish it weren’t me? Absolutely. I still can’t make that logistic jump to thinking there’s a reason why it shouldn’t be me.”
On Beauty
“ I’m not beautiful. I mean, I’m a perfectly normal looking Jewish guy. My face has never been my fortune nor has my body. I mean truly, you know, which is why I developed conversation.”
The link: http://www.npr.org/2012/08/10/158567391/david-rakoff-there-is-no-answer-as-to-why-me