Patrick Swayze´s Illness and Continued Smoking Presents A Life Lesson for Us All.
Alice Aspen March
March 02, 2009
Patrick Swayze is fighting for his life, having 4th stage pancreatic cancer; and he still continues to smoke mega cigarettes daily. He was recently voted King of romantic movies for his roles in Ghost and Dirty Dancing. He´s been a super star since 1987, when he made Dirty Dancing. Recently, the January 26th, copy of People Magazine had Patrick and his wife Lisa on its cover. He was also recently interviewed by Barbara Walters who declared that Patrick and his wife, Lisa, have an extraordinary marriage. They´ve been married for 33 years, a pretty fine record anywhere these days for couples.
He´s found his passion for living at his New Mexico Ranch, where he rides and enjoys his time with his abundant animals. He even rode his white stallion to a celebration at his ranch, recently, when he and Lisa chose to renew their marriage vows. He talks about much he admires and needs the strength of his wife, Lisa, especially during his illness. And, yet, he keeps on smoking. Doesn´t he know the research on second-hand smoke? He is actually putting his wife´s life at risk.
So here´s a man who seemingly has everything: a successful marriage, a successful career, a cherished life style and yet, he´s bent on a self-destructive journey. Could this be called a suicidal journey? Just questions…
He has smoked long and hard for most of his life, choosing to ignore the medical research, the smoking statistics and the growing international non-smoking culture.
Moreover, he recently traveled to Washington to stump for more medical attention and money paid for cancer research. I find it ironic that now that he has cancer and is really ill, he won´t give up what could have caused his cancer in the first place.
We hear today more than ever about medical research which concludes that second-hand smoke even damages animals and pets, not to mention significant others; we also hear of more new successful methods and systems being developed for breaking the smoking addiction, which, research admits is a very strong addiction to break.
I´ve often written that the kind of attention we receive in childhood lives with us forever. I have to wonder why a man, who has what we all appear to want in life, all that´s valued in our country, will continue to expose his wife and animals to the dangerous smoke he needs to imbibe. What happened in his childhood that would rob him of the consciousness to see what he´s doing to himself and to others? And why does his loving wife continue to enable this behavior? More question…
Of course, I don´t know him personally. I just wonder after seeing pictures of him lately looking gaunt, while smoking and reading, that he believes he will beat his cancer. In thinking about Patrick´s current life, I have to ask ourselves about how we´re treating ourselves, what kind of attention we are truly giving ourselves and the people we love and care about. Are we behaving in a way that hurts the people around us?
There are lots of stories about non-smokers dying because of their partners´ smoking. How can we curtain the denial of our friends and families who continue to believe that smoking doesn´t kill? What is going to wake us up? I believe that it's vital for us to look at our cultural role-models more closely, to see how they choose to live their lives, what personal values they present. Are we addicted to believing that how people look and how much money they have is really what we lust after?
He´s found his passion for living at his New Mexico Ranch, where he rides and enjoys his time with his abundant animals. He even rode his white stallion to a celebration at his ranch, recently, when he and Lisa chose to renew their marriage vows. He talks about much he admires and needs the strength of his wife, Lisa, especially during his illness. And, yet, he keeps on smoking. Doesn´t he know the research on second-hand smoke? He is actually putting his wife´s life at risk.
So here´s a man who seemingly has everything: a successful marriage, a successful career, a cherished life style and yet, he´s bent on a self-destructive journey. Could this be called a suicidal journey? Just questions…
He has smoked long and hard for most of his life, choosing to ignore the medical research, the smoking statistics and the growing international non-smoking culture.
Moreover, he recently traveled to Washington to stump for more medical attention and money paid for cancer research. I find it ironic that now that he has cancer and is really ill, he won´t give up what could have caused his cancer in the first place.
We hear today more than ever about medical research which concludes that second-hand smoke even damages animals and pets, not to mention significant others; we also hear of more new successful methods and systems being developed for breaking the smoking addiction, which, research admits is a very strong addiction to break.
I´ve often written that the kind of attention we receive in childhood lives with us forever. I have to wonder why a man, who has what we all appear to want in life, all that´s valued in our country, will continue to expose his wife and animals to the dangerous smoke he needs to imbibe. What happened in his childhood that would rob him of the consciousness to see what he´s doing to himself and to others? And why does his loving wife continue to enable this behavior? More question…
Of course, I don´t know him personally. I just wonder after seeing pictures of him lately looking gaunt, while smoking and reading, that he believes he will beat his cancer. In thinking about Patrick´s current life, I have to ask ourselves about how we´re treating ourselves, what kind of attention we are truly giving ourselves and the people we love and care about. Are we behaving in a way that hurts the people around us?
There are lots of stories about non-smokers dying because of their partners´ smoking. How can we curtain the denial of our friends and families who continue to believe that smoking doesn´t kill? What is going to wake us up? I believe that it's vital for us to look at our cultural role-models more closely, to see how they choose to live their lives, what personal values they present. Are we addicted to believing that how people look and how much money they have is really what we lust after?
Print
Email
