As much as my cancer has taken away, it has also given.

Those diagnosed with cancer, whether they survive or not, they are never the same. Life really is the penultimate gift, a gift that we all too often take for granted. The shock of potentially losing one's life, or the realization that you will lose your life, that truly puts things in perspective. What once seemed critically important, now seems trivial and what was once trivial now seems exceedingly important. Spending time with my friends and letting them know how much I value their friendship has taken presidence. Not that work and everything else has taken a back seat, it is just that my priorities have changed.

For those of you who are healthy, I suggest you hug your loved ones, tell them and show them each and every day just how important they are. Those afflicited with cancer, whether terminal or not, do the same. It will give you, and them, a huge sense of peace. For you, there will be no unfinished business. For them, there will be the knowledge that the months, weeks or days with you were positive and reaffirming. You will be a better person for it.

I have not only the chance, but an overwhelming desire, to right all the wrongs that I have done in my life. Not that I am worried about meeting my maker.  I am, for better or worse, an athiest.  Lack of belief in God does not mean that I do not believe that there are certain "tenants" that we should all live by whether Christian, Muslim or Hindu or Druid.  Violations of those tenants diminishes those we hurt, but, even more, it diminishes us as human beings. Thou shall not steal, thou shall not murder, thou shall not bear false witness, etc. are not the sole property of the Christian religion.  If you need to go to church to learn these lessons, you have far greater problems than you know or are willing to recognize.

Not that I am looking to find the girl in my 3rd grade class whose pig tails I used to pull- I am not. I am sure by now she has not given me a thought in nearly 50 years, but there are greater wrongs.....

It saddens me that it took a life altering, life afflicting illness to come to this realization but it is better to come to the realization later in life than to go to one's grave oblivious.

I look at new relationships, both business and personal, as an opportunity  to right those past wrongs.  Perhaps people will say "well he finally got it". I am, in the end, a better human being. However, being a better human being is not easy.  It requires work and effort- perhaps one of the reasons I was not as good as I should have been. Looking for, finding, and taking the short-cuts in life is rarely the wisest of choices.  In the end, the only person you short change is yourself. In the past,  I have always believed the mantra " it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission", and in business I still do, but never in my personal life.

Those who know me best have seen a change in me, albeit a subtle one. I am different.  I believe that not only I, but all those with whom I come in contact, are richer for it.

During the past two years, since my diagnosis, I have meet some amazingly warm, kind and generous people.  Health care workers and those afflicted with cancer whom I never would have met had I not gotten cancer. Would I rather not have the disease and have not met them?  Without a doubt, but I am still richer for knowing them. I am eternally grateful for their friendship, kindness, support and understanding