Perspective

As Features Editor here at the paper, I've been put in charge of our monthly series on Breast Cancer Awareness, in which we publish one issue a week with 2-3 stories relating to the issue, be it survivors, new support groups, or new technology. While my editor knows of my history, he still thinks I should be able to write about this, saying I have good writing skills and can sympathize/empathize with the stories being presented.

So far, I've had to interview several survivors. It doesn't get any easier. One survivor asked me today if I had been affected by cancer (as it seems like everyone, even if they haven't suffered themselves, knows someone who has some form of the disease). I briefly summed up my story, and she turned from talking about herself to empathizing with me becoming a widow at 24. I felt almost embarrassed because we should have been talking about her and her struggle with breast cancer, but I do think it made her feel better by knowing I had actual experience with what she was talking about.

I don't know what the point of writing this is. I'm getting off work in 30 minutes, and the next issue will be behind me. I guess it's just hard to know I've got three more issues of this coming up, and now the management here wants me to do this every month (as every month focuses on a different form of cancer). I agree it's good to spread awareness, but the writing about it on a continual basis is becoming difficult.