“If I had cancer…” Oh yes, it is always so easy to talk when something does not affect us directly.
Language can be so powerful. We all know that. This is why we should really think twice before choosing one word instead of another one.
There is one thing that this interesting article by the Guardian brought up to my mind, and it’s about the language we all use when we speak about cancer.
Just think about it. I did it, you did it, media do it all the time, we all have done it, at least once. I am talking about using military language when referring to people dealing with cancer. So it is always a struggling “battle”, someone always “loses his fight” against it, and they are always “warriors”.
And yes, I do get why society adopted this kind of language. We just thought we would be more supporting, this way. We thought it was going to be something positive, that would help cancer patients cope harder. But what happens when cancer is just too strong? When there is no chance of surviving? We can fight as hard as we can, we can struggle for years, but still, if cancer takes over, there is really nothing we can do about. And being told that we are “losing our battle” just doesn’t make any sense, nor help at all. Keeping using this kind of language won’t do any good. Just think how patients may end up feeling personally responsible if their condition deteriorates, just because they feel they didn’t fight hard enough, they weren’t strong enough. Does that sound fair to you?
Sometimes, there are things in life that we cannot control, as cancer that can’t be treated. Why can’t we just accept it? And by accepting it, I certainly do not mean giving up. Giving up on any kind of cure known, and most of all, on enjoying every single moment and thing that brings us a tiny sparkle of joy, and makes it, at least, a little less frustrating. Because at the end of the day, this is what’s going to really matter: those random seconds in our life when we even forgot we are ill.
By Sabina Grixoni
Editor and Social Media Strategist
Communication Trainee at TermCoord