As the coffin was about to close, a loving daughter stroked her father’s hair and a loving wife looked upon her husband for the last time in this life. With tears in their eyes and rolling down their faces, they watched the coffin lid shut. The crowd escorted the casket to the grave site in a procession of vehicles. At the grave site, we heard “Taps” played by a serviceman in uniform. Upon completing the tune, he joined another serviceman in removing the flag from atop the coffin. Together, the servicemen reverently and ceremoniously folded the flag and presented it to the loving wife. The crowd joined together in prayer, laid flowers on the coffin, and said goodbye. A cancer had grown in my Uncle Dave until it took his life.
Uncle Dave’s cancer started as just a random event inside his body’s cells. This random event caused cancer cells to grow out of control. Cancer cells eventually overwhelmed the healthy parts of my Uncle Dave’s body.
As I join with family and friends in mourning the loss of my Uncle Dave, and as our hearts ache, I can’t help but worry that the American Spirit will be overwhelmed by the cancers growing within it like the cancer that overwhelmed Uncle Dave’s body. Like a body’s cancer starts within the cells, the cancers afflicting America start within its people. Every thought and every act of betraying American principles and values is a cancer that can grow and overwhelm our individual commitments to principles. With enough betrayal and without treatment, the American Spirit becomes dormant, hibernating within us, essentially dead until re-awakened. To cure this cancer, our treatments are: enlightenment and reason, empathy for all, the pursuit of truth, and a stronger internal commitment to American values. The cancers that threaten the Spirit of America are much more curable than a biological cancer. Let’s all commit to continuously identify, treat, and cure the betrayals within us.
Evan Barlow, Pleasant View
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