hate? yep... hate

i don't hate many things. in fact, i try really hard to not actually hate anything. except beets. they're super gross. but i don't allow my students to use the word "hate" and encourage them instead to use interesting, fun words like "abhor" and "detest." it makes them seem much smarter and less limited. but i think something i really hate, in the purest sense of the word, is cancer. cancer and apathy, but that's another blog. i hate cancer because it's greedy and insatiable. i hate the way it tears at families and folks and robs them of security and futures. and granted, i can see the ways that these upheavals in comfort can actually promote bursts of enlightenment and gratitude, but does it have to go about it in such a nasty way? does it have hit up my cousin at age 20 with leukemia that keeps her in treatments for years, and just when she's on her way out, it hits her mom with breast cancer? was it really necessary? did it think that aunt monny wasn't taking it seriously enough? that it had to come in for round 2? unfortunately for the cancer, it hasn't seen our family dance at family weddings and has no idea how badly we're going to kick its ass.