LIVE!!
from
The Floridian
Saturdays
10:00 a.m - Noon
WFTL 850 AM
GUESTS | NEWS SOURCES | ARTICLES | SPONSORS | ABOUT NORM KENT | LINKS
brought to you by
CLICK HERE
for
Advertising
Opportunities
The Cancer Life
August 25, 1999
I am returning my column to the pages of Scoop Magazine for very simple
personal reasons. Over the past seven months, publisher Brad Casey and She editor-in-chief
Karen Campbell have been uncommonly kind to me on both a professional and personal basis.
They have been very caring at a time when it mattered most.
As many of you know by now, I have been very ill with lymphoma, a cancer, this entire
year. Diagnosed with a malignant tumor against the wall of my stomach in December of 1998,
I have endured a number of surgeries and survived six months of chemotherapy treatments.
It has now almost been nine months since I practiced law full time. But that was then and
this is now. I am now living in a pleasant village called 'Remission City', and that is a
wonderful place to be. As a matter of fact, anywhere is a wonderful place to be. For now,
just having the strength and health to sit and write a column gives me satisfaction.
As a columnist, commentator and radio talk show host, I have been outspoken. I have
opinions and I express them, hopefully with intelligence, wit, and humor. You don't have
to agree. You are not expected to. The worst callers to my radio talk show were the ones
that did nothing but agree. It's boring. So if what I have to say ignites or incites you,
excites or exacerbates you, your responses are welcome. One of the things you learn in
life is that you cannot please all people all the time. I have grown up. I don't try to
anymore.
I have previously written for TWN, Hot Spots, and Scoop. Our community has grown
tremendously, and we are now even supporting seven different publications. David Magazine
has joined the mix by making significant entreaties reaching out to the mainstream
community. She, Unique, and Ms. David are providing communication forums for women. We
should all be proud that there is room for everyone within the rainbow. It is not
necessary to subscribe to the theory that in order for you to succeed another must fail.
Personally, I won't be satisfied until there is another local gay newspaper or upscale
magazine that appeals more to journalism and less to just our night life. After all, there
are some of us that live in the daytime hours. With me here, Scoop will move more in that
direction.
I think it is also about time for gay professionals, from politicians to doctors, from
teachers to journalists, to come out of the closet and be role models. I think it is sad
that the icons of our community have been bar owners. Not that they are bad people. Quite
the opposite. Many of them are extraordinary individuals. For years, the bars and their
owners have assumed the responsibility of raising monies and providing venues for
community fund raisers that have assisted countless groups, from sports teams to
charities. But the burden cannot continue to be theirs alone. After all, how many teams
can George Kessinger sponsor ? It is time others stepped out, and up, to the plate.
Already, many have. What we owe to role models like Steve Feder and Alan Schubert, Jim
Stork and Dean Trantalis, and countless others, cannot be put into words. In coming
articles, I hope to mention many more individuals whose stature and strength enhance us as
a community.
As we approach the new millennium, the gay community is reaching new milestones. We are
all lucky to be part of that life. Only a few short years ago, we were all more apart from
the mainstream community than a part of it. Working together, we can only grow bigger, get
stronger, and be more of an influence in the world we all share. We need to do it with
greater harmony, more unity, and better focus. We are not just about sexual roulette,
Andrew Cunanan and circuit parties. We are a great and vibrant community, stable and
serene, solid and certain, getting healthier each day.
People ask whether or not my near 'life and death experience' has changed me. Well, I have
always considered being alive a privilege , not an excuse. I love the friends I have and
the family I have been blessed with. I cherish the relationships I have shared and even
those I have seen shattered. I just believe that living is a marvelous thing, particularly
given the alternative. Ultimately, that which matters most is not what we do but how we do
it. Who we do it to- well, I always thought that was a private matter.
Whether or not you have been ill, America is a land of forgiveness and second chances. No
matter how old you are, or young you might be, there is always a way back, a chance to
start again, to make things right. The opportunity begins with each new moment and every
breath you take. You are limited only by the boundaries of your imagination and energy.
You create your life by each and every choice you make every day. So it is with every
rising sun. Live today well and yesterday becomes a testimony to laughter, tomorrow a
reason for hope.
I have been blessed with a renewed opportunity- for how long, I do not know. But then none
of us, with or without cancer, ever do. I can only promise myself that I will continue to
make the most of each chance I get to be a better friend, a concerned professional, and
loving partner. If your team loses a star player to an injury, you still have to go out
there every day and do the best with what you have. The opponent does not play you easier
or feel sorry for you.
I have cancer. Maybe you have AIDS. Hell, everybody's got something. It does not matter.
We are all here for a limited time, and we must play the cards we are dealt. I strive
simply to do my best and try my hardest, making the most of each and every precious moment
that I have. Give the unforgiving minute sixty seconds worth of distance run and you will
always be proud of your life.