Elizabeth Edwards

May her soul rest in peace. I always liked her, when she was with John, but even more after he turned out to be a cheating scumbag and she remained a figure of grace and dignity.

But I'm really upset with the media. I can't help but thinking that, with all their power and influence, they are increasingly becoming self-fulfilling prophets. They report stories with the slant of whatever lens they're looking through, they inundate the air with their reports, and then reality starts to look like what they've said.

Being a cancer survivor, I know the importance of positive affirmations in the healing process. While I can't know anything about Ms. Edwards' last hours, I do know about my own cousin, Joanne. J also had stage 4 breast cancer but, with the help of a strong supportive family, was doing quite well. She'd been able to go on a cruise and was needing less oxygen. On a regular checkup, she was at Duke Hospital and some stupid, ignorant, insensitive "doctor" looked at her chart and said, "You know you're dying, don't you?" Within a month, Joanne did just that.

I'm not one to shy away from death, nor from unpleasant medical realities. I don't even believe in prolonged artificial end-of-life treatment simply to delay death. But I do believe in fully living one's life, I do believe in hope in the face of overwhelming odds, I do believe in the power of positive reinforcement and, yes, I do believe in miracles. While I have no use for a medical professional who is unwilling/unable to share unpleasant truths with their patient, I also have no use for medical professionals (or media pundits) who offer their spin on "truth" without compassion. As some wise people once told me, "Truth without Compassion is Brutality."

It seems that today so many people engage in unfettered brutality in the name of truth. There's that Asange idiot, who acts like a toddler who's just discovered his penis "LOOKIE!! LOOK AT WHAT I'VE GOT! WOOHOO,THAT feels good!" He's displaying the same sort of narcissistic, self-absorbed obsession with what HE can do, what HE believes is appropriate, with absolutely no regard for the established order that dictates appropriate courses of behavior for the greater good in civilized societies (which is not to say that established order is always a good thing; I'm simply saying that wholesale rejection of that order leads to chaos, which is where I believe Assange's actions lead us).

And so it is with the media. What good was there in publicizing the fact that this woman, who had been through so much, was nearing her final hours? Who had a need or right to know her prognosis? What if, in her last hours on earth, she did choose to turn on the TV -- how would it feel to be deathly ill and to have every station you turn to REPORTING on that illness? Could that have an impact or an effect on one's health? I think so.

Is there no code of ethics in journalism? It's supposed to be about the truth, I thought -- the whole deal with reporters and reporting is that Americans have a right to know the truth. But in this age of information overload, it seems one ultimately needs to define "truth." Do I really need to know the intimate details of every pseudo- or wannabe celebrity's sex life? Does it edify anyone to report on a woman's terminal cancer prognosis? Why do we have such tunnel vision about minutia here in America while overlooking huge beams such as, oh, I don't know ... our role in the International Community? The fact that we support and sustain a racist, apartheid regime?

Going way off topic here, but I have a question: We (Americans in general) are upset at Muslims because they have what we consider to be fanatical religious beliefs; namely, they believe Islam to be the True religion and everyone else to be infidels. We think they're bad people because they engage in terroristic acts to achieve goals they believe are demanded by their religious beliefs. Yet, we support other people who also have a religion that is exclusive to the point that it will not allow its adherents to even eat or drink food that is not prepared under their direction. They have set up a nation that once was a refuge for the oppressed but now has turned into a place that oppresses people who are "other." Their religious beliefs dictate this state, and their religious beliefs led them to engage in a war for freedom that, viewed from another point of view, could be seen as a terroristic thrust. It seems to me that the difference in how we Americans regard Muslims and Jews is one of perception. True, no Jewish people were masterminds of the 9/11 attacks on America, but Jewish people are the authors of systemic apartheid in Israel which ultimately attacks American credibility in the international community. How come there's no outrage there? Why do we nearly deify (or at least indemnify) one group but villify another, when their actions, viewed without an inherent bias towards or against either party, seem so similar?

How come we're focused on one woman who has run her race well, and are not looking at all the instances of people cheating and taking shortcuts? If we're so interested in fair news reporting, how come we couldn't just let her go home in peace and, in the interest of justice, take a look at something that we might have a possibility of doing something about? (sorry for that horrible sentence construction).

Wouldn't it be a wonderful tribute to Elizabeth Edwards if we could get our news media to begin fair and accurate news reporting? What if we could go back to a time when we had civility and standards in mass communication? I think that would be a wonderful tribute to a wonderful woman.

May she rest in peace, and may we live in peace.