My newest hero

I'll be watching for Jonathan Alter's byline from now on. He has won my respect.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17821116/site/newsweek/?from=rss

I wouldn't dare judge this couple during this emotional time in their lives. I thank God everyday that cancer is not among the demons that have afflicted my immediate family. But with other demons afloat, I can tell you that normalcy is the one thing you long for when the world is upside down.

Politics and campaigning equal normalcy to the Edwardses. My best friend lost her mother to cancer as she was entering college. She took a year's break from her studies to care for her until the end. (Which was nearer than she thought.)

Another friend recently lost a father to cancer. She worked through until the last week. What else was she going to do? Her thoughts and heart were with her dad every second, but steadily working gave her the comfort "normalcy" offers. (And allowed her to pay the bills. Bill collectors don't care if your father is dying of cancer. They don't care about anything. They're not human, but that's a topic for another day.)

I do not cast my lot with Alter because I support Edwards in this upcoming presidential race. I found out yesterday while listening to NPR that cancer has been found in the liver of Tony Snow, press secretary to the worst president in U.S. history. I gasped, and immediately offered up a prayer for Snow and his family.

Cancer is devastating. I never want that personal experience.

I commend every syllable Alter writes in this piece. The ending, however, is something we should all take to heart:

No one can say how you-or anyone else-will react until actually faced with a devastating diagnosis. In my case-and Tony Snow's, Laura Ingraham's, Jay Monahan's (the late husband of Katie Couric) Elizabeth Edward's and hundreds of thousands of others-the choice was to try to hold onto as much of our old life as humanly possible. Don't judge that.