You have...Cancer

Cancer Survivor.

Those words have been reverberating in my head for the past forty-eight hours. I used them in a phone conversation with Joe.

Is that who I am? Most days I think about it very little. I don’t wear a yellow wristband, a pink ribbon or other identifying symbol. I haven’t started a foundation or charity ride. Although I revel in riding my bike, I have ridden for a cure for other diseases but not for cancer.

It has been three and a half years since my urologist called and asked me to come to his office early. He said, “We have to talk.” Time stands still when you are told you have cancer, but I was not paralyzed with fear or indecision. I went right to work getting a second opinion. I did research on the internet. Most importantly, I talked with my family. My son said, “Dad, I want your grandchildren to know you.” I chose an aggressive treatment because of those talks with my children.

It has been more than three years since the surgery. I am not the man I used to be, but I am alive, active and enjoying life. In some ways I am still healing, I just got back on the bicycle this past spring. Nevertheless, I don’t think of myself as a “cancer survivor” very often. I cannot say that I get up every morning rejoicing that I am alive. Nor do I value life at some metaphysical level in a way different than before.

Right after the surgery I had this evangelistic zeal to convince men over fifty to get a regular PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen) test. I told them they should do Kegel exercises everyday for the rest of their lives. Men don’t generally talk about those things, nor do they usually get regular checkups. We should because we can save lives. An estimated 30,350 men will die of prostate cancer in 2005. My son will need to be aware of all of this because both his father and grandfather had prostate cancer, increasing his risk.

Yet, I have quieted down about all of that since then. I worked with Joe for about four months. Only during a phone conversation about health insurance did I use the words “cancer survivor.” Now that I think about it, I am a month or two late for my follow-up PSA. I am supposed to have one every six months for five years. So far there has been no reoccurrence. Five-year survival rates for prostate cancer diagnosed and treated early approach 100%. Since the cancer was restricted to the prostate, I did not have any post surgical treatment such as radiation or additional hormones.

So, why don’t I wear my identity as a cancer survivor on my sleeve or wrist? I am not sure that I know all of the answer to that. But, when I reflect on it, I am glad to be here, to know my grandson and to hang out with my family when I can. Life is good and I hope to stay around a good bit longer.

End Gerrymandering

There is one fundamental change that can return political power to voters in New York and several other states. We can change the process of redistricting.

After every census political boundaries are redrawn. In New York politicians control the process. The result is incumbent and/or partisan protection. Although my Congresswoman Louise Slaughter’s district does not look like a salamander, a look at the map will convince you that something other than pure logic is at work.

The net effect of the map of my district was the loss of one Democratic seat and the provision of a safe district for Congressman Tom Reynolds, Republican. Perhaps it was so he can give more of his time to enlarging the Republican majority in the House.

In Texas there was a different result. The money and influence of Tom Delay led to an increase of five new Republican House members in Washington, giving him even more power. Of course he is now under indictment for laundering some money in the process.

The redistricting for the 2002 elections here in New York frustrated me a good deal. At the time I lived in Tom Reynolds’ district. That made me even madder. At a banquet where Louise Slaughter was keynote speaker, I offered three draft choices and a player to be named later to swap Representatives. I eventually moved and am now in her district.

I have to credit Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for making me aware of an alternative. We can at least somewhat de-politicize the redistricting process with a nonpartisan commission. Pity the Governor got greedy and tried to change everything at once.

So I have been lobbying for a commission with my political friends and party leaders ever since. I suggested it in a meeting this fall with a party executive. He immediately let me know that this was a nonstarter in New York. Why would the Republicans and Democrats in Albany, “Give up their power?” Why, indeed?

Now there is a starter for the idea in my state. State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer has made it a part of his platform in his run for Governor. The Buffalo News beat me to the keyboard with an editorial supporting his call for reform the next day.

We have about five years to make this happen in New York. We can support Spitzer’s call for redistricting reform, make it a big part of the election for governor during this next year and put the pressure on party and legislative leadership. Let’s elect them rather than having them choosing us!

If you want more information about models for reform visit The United States Elections Project.

What Would Jeremiah Say?

Maybe I need a support group.

I am fed up and angry. I am also a bit embarrassed. Why? Because the political conversation in our country seems more and more controlled by the so-called “people of faith” on the religious right. I know those people; in fact I come from the “Evangelical” tradition. I used to say that I was an evangelical with a small “e.” I guess I was wiser than I realized.

So, what really bothers me? First, is the tenor of the conversation. What we have now is polarizing hate. The leadership of the religious right has resorted to vindictive and manipulative language and methods to get their way.

Second, is how being a person of faith is defined. Religious people have always been selective of the scriptures they emphasize. People of the Christian right ignore the parts of the Bible that make them uncomfortable.

Their selective reading of their scriptures is most clearly illustrated in their call for a “culture of life.” Are you for life? Then you try to pack the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. You interfere in the private agony of end of life issues with Terri Schiavo. But you say nothing about the 2,100 military men and women killed in Iraq. And, the Iraqi deaths reliably estimated at more than 30,000? Silence.

Is it a culture of life to suggest that our government “take out” the president of a neighboring country? How about calling God’s wrath down on citizens who threw out a school board that interfered in the teaching of science?

Perhaps the opinion makers among the Christian right have become too comfortable in their middle class affluence. They fail to hear the voices of the poor and oppressed when Congress makes a dishonest show of reducing the deficit. Congressional leadership wants to cut Medicaid and food stamps; programs for our most vulnerable. On the other hand they plan to cut taxes for the very rich. Where are the voices of outrage?

Let me guess. Each Sunday more and more U.S. Christians gather in huge auditoriums at churches that cost millions. Then they return to their middle class homes. God forbid that they be discomforted.

God sent the prophet Jeremiah to a king with a building program. What he told the affluent king is in the Bible. Here is what he said:

Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him.

He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 22:15,16)