Speaking out against secret fears

Jan 20, 2001 - © Dorothy Harris

"Breast cancer and mastectomy are not unique experiences, but ones shared by thousands of american women. Each of these women has a particular voice to be raised in what must become a female outcry against all preventable cancers, as well as against the secret fears that allow those cancers to flourish. May these words serve as encouragement for other women to speak and to act out of our experiences with cancer and with other threats of death, for silence has never brought us anything of worth."

Audre Lorde, The Cancer Journals

Last night my partner and I hosted a few friends for dinner - not the usual fancy fanfare that we've become notorious for, although we did pull out the linen napkins and the china. And, of course, we did pull our our usual hostesses with the mostesses behavior. We're new to our area and we've been developing new friends while sharing our home with relatives and long lost friends as well. A new friend was driving down (oh about three hours) for a visit and we thought we would invite a couple of folks over for dinner. One of our local friends - just 45 minutes away - called the evening before to say that she couldn't make it because her car was out of service. My partner and I both awoke yesterday morning with the same idea. We'd offer to pick her up to bring her to dinner. We don't know her very well, but we know that we like her and that we'd like her company. When we called her with the idea, she loved it, expressed appreciation and promised to be ready on time. As we had just rearranged our home that afternoon, I was putting the final plugs into our sound system at the time I should have been at our friend's door. When the phone rang, I knew that I had to rush out, but was intent on getting the system together before other guests came. As she was speaking to my partner, I could overhear the conversation enough to know that they were joking about aging, exhaustion and hair loss. Before long, I thought I heard something about chemotherapy and the association of these things with the treatment. I also stopped laughing when I realized that the jokes about the aging process turned into a conversation about cancer. Oh wow... I thought...this IS becoming part of our aging process.. another friend battling with cancer... another woman warrior.

The copyright of the article Speaking out against secret fears in African-American Women's Lit is owned by Dorothy Harris. Permission to republish Speaking out against secret fears in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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