Blog #22--What's Luck Got To Do With It?

In an article entitled “Is Cancer Risk Mostly Affected By Genes, Lifestyle, Or Just Plain Bad Luck?,” Jenna Birch reports for the January 1, 2015 Yahoo News on the conclusions reached by scientists in a recent study at Johns Hopkins University. The study provides fascinating and potentially provocative explanations for the causes of cancer.

To make a long story short, a well-planned experiment proved that around 2/3 of cancers studied occur randomly, without any known causes other than a sudden change in one gene within an entire DNA molecule. The other 1/3 of cancers studied appear to have causes that aided their development, such as genetics, carcinogens, self-destructive lifestyles and environmental toxins.

In other words, only 1/3 of the cancers studied MAY have causes we can recognize, and even then the exceptions prevent hard and fast rules for prevention. We see many lung cancer patients who have smoked or been around smoke in their lives, but we also see some smokers who have few if any respiratory problems and some nonsmokers who die of lung cancer. Excessive sun exposure appears to cause skin cancer, but certainly not for all sun worshippers. There are always exceptions.

The reason this news might be provocative is the admission that “chance” plays a strong role in cancer. Our human egos desire to control our environment to aid our survival. Finding out that fate plays a role in our lives can deflate some, depress some and be downright earth-shattering to a few.

However, I see it as great news. We are failing at controlling cancer. When one way isn’t succeeding, trying something different or maybe even opposite is needed. In this case, if we can’t prevent ourselves from getting cancer, maybe we can accept it as our individual fate. After all, that is what it is.

Most humans believe in luck, but only partially. We believe either in good luck and seek to blame someone or something when things don’t go our way, or we believe in bad luck and assume we must do something extreme to have anything good happen for us.

In reality, both good and bad luck occur daily to all of us. They comprise the up-and-down reality of our daily experiences. When one is experiencing good fortune, there’s a good chance someone else is facing the opposite. We might see things go our way one hour and the reverse the next. We can’t have one without the other.

In our paradoxical world, accepting the cancer actually helps us reduce the fear which feeds and energizes the cancer. With peace of mind, our own immune systems can more easily put us back into balance, where cancer is less likely to gain control. Whether our egos can tolerate hearing words like “chance,” “fate” and “destiny” is immaterial. We cannot control or prevent random events, so accepting them is a wise alternative.

We are all destined to have finite lifetimes on Earth. No one escapes this fact. Whether we die from cancer or get hit by a bus, we still have to play the cards dealt us. If we are meant to develop cancer, then there are a set of lessons we can learn along the way. And those who love us will be learning along with us. If we are meant to overcome the cancer, we will.

I doubt there will be many writers sharing my point of view on this subject. But we will not fall apart once we realize we cannot control everything in our lives. Accepting that we have a gentle energy pushing us from behind toward the future can give us a peace of mind that helps smooth out every down cycle, even cancer.

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