Today I went to the Periodontist to get my teeth cleaned. It was nice seeing them again and they had put in my current condition and everyone there knew I had cancer. They checked to make sure that I could have procedures done but wanted me to verify with my cancer care team. I called and they said it was all right. Right now I am within the optimal window where I have enough space from the surgery and the chemo is not scheduled to start again for another 3 weeks. Since I posted the update yesterday a lot of people have contacted me to see how things are. I appreciate the concern from everyone and today during one of the conversations one of my employees told me that he would pray for me. This is something that a lot of people have said to me, but it led to a conversation about religion. I have studied various religions and while I do not practice any, at the core of most religions, the message is the same. We should try and help those less fortunate and we should strive to be nice to each other. It is interesting how people can twist certain things from religion to fit their narrative…..which seems to happen frequently in some areas. I appreciate being able to have talks about religion and different philosophies. One of my friends who is a deacon was fantastic to discuss theology with as he had a science background so he had an interesting approach where he could reconcile scientific theories with religion.
This made me think a bit about motives of people. Are people kind because of the fear of God and the ramifications of not abiding by those lessons or do they do it because “it is the right thing to do”. I am not religious, but I do have a collection of rosaries which surprises a lot of people. I am not sure how I ended up collecting so many but I have more than most people. When I was in University I had a friend who was quite religious and prayed every day. She would occasionally ask me to say the whole rosary with her, which I obliged. I tried to do it seriously as this is something she believed in. When Melanie and I were in Paris we visited Notre Dame and Sacré-Cœur. Notre Dame was over run with tourists, but when we went to Sacré-Cœur we were not allowed to take photos inside but walking into the place you just feel a sense of awe. It was rather impressive. It was not necessarily the decor or anything physical there, but there was just a presence when you walked in there. My friend the deacon married Melanie and I, and during the rehearsal he threw holy water on me. I am not sure what he put in there, but it burned when it hit my skin.
When I was in University I would have to travel to conferences frequently. Being a poor student made it a bit difficult as I would be required to pay for everything and then get reimbursed. There was one time where I flew to a conference in Atlanta. When coming back home there was a snow storm and the flight got delayed and things got cancelled. Someone on the flight found had a wife who was a travel agent and found a hotel at our layover in Memphis. She booked two rooms, one for her husband and one for me. There were not many hotels available at this time. He paid for us to get to the hotel. The hotel was rather sketchy and my room was not clean and someone had tried to come into it during the middle of the night. I slept on top of the covers fully clothed. Since there were no more available rooms I did not complain much. This guy and I went out to dinner and he paid for my dinner as well. Flying back to Toronto he made sure that I was all right and arriving in Toronto he wanted to make sure I had a ride from the airport. What I regret is losing his business card as I could not contact him in the future to thank him for his kindness.
Even though I am going through cancer and the treatment, I believe that I can do some acts of kindness now as well. With covid it is a bit harder, but it does not necessarily require anything monetary. I am going to try and do one act of kindness per day. I will not necessarily publicize what I am doing since it defeats the purpose if you do it for recognition. I want to do this because it is the right thing to do and something that we should strive to do. A kind word to someone may make their day, or showing your appreciation by thanking people. Recognition for good things does not happen as much as it should. I want to try and make someone’s life a bit better each day.
Quoc Hao
You make everyone’s life better by just being you. You have always been a very kind soul. I have lost count of how many times you fixed my computers and explained and re-explained and re-explained how to navigate through your super secure virus protection. 🙂
I agree with you this world, especially at this time, could use a little more kindness. So let me follow your example and thank you for gracing me with your friendship.
It was just general security as you were in a place where people could get onto your network so we had to make sure it was super secure so you could not accidentally let someone on. It was fun times….and I had to help you, I was scared of Olivia.