Tonight I attended a cancer fundraiser called ‘Relay for Life’. It was held at the local collage and minor league baseball park. From 7 PM to 7 AM hundreds of people affected by cancer walked, talked, laughed, and cried; sharing memories as they traversed the candle lit path around the field.
Each candle was housed in a white paper bag with the name of a cancer victim or survivor on it. Some had inspirational phrases and pictures of the person, others just said “Mom”, or “Grandpa”. There were hundreds upon hundreds of these luminaries, and the feeling of walking past them was profoundly moving. Every point of light represented someones parent, sibling, spouse, or friend. And for every bag that said “In support of”, or “Survivor”, there were 3 more that said “In memory of”, or “In honor of”. Someone had put a sign out in left field. It simply said, “Hope.”
Walking along this path illuminated by the countless memorials to battles won and lost, it made me consider how small my perspective of life really is. I’ve had relatives die to cancer, but no one really close to me. Standing there I was surrounded by hundreds of reminders that life is so much bigger then what I experience every day. Life is a precious commodity that we–especially collage students like myself–so easily take for granted. And yet at an event where there is so much loss, and should be so much sorrow, hope still burns bright in the hearts of all the husbands and wives, sisters and brothers, moms and dads, and grandpas and grandmas.
Celebrate. Remember. Fight Back.