On the DEWLine 2.0: Dwight Williams

So I got a bit of good luck with today's eye exam: my sight hasn't worsened. My back-of-the-one-eyeball issue is still stable. I got a one-third discount on the price of that eye exam. And despite missing the bus I hoped to take home from that, I caught another one within two minutes when I was expecting to wait half an hour. So I started thinking today was a good day.

Then, I get home, log into Twitter, and find out about George Pérez's health news.

Then, I look at the solidarity among other artists and among fans in response to that news.

For all the other troubles of the world, yeah, all of *that* has been wearing me down. But that solidarity?

CBC News notes this particular anniversary. At roughly 4 AM on this date in 1980, Terry Fox set off on that first Marathon of Hope in St. John's, Newfoundland-Labrador.

(Or, if you prefer, Ikkarumikluak-Nunatsuak among the Inuit, or Taqamgug among the M'ikmaq/Lnúk.)

He never got to finish that cross-country run. But we've never stopped since then.

Virus don't care, of course, but it would be good if that virus couldn't stop us from continuing the work he took up against cancer. I suspect that some of the fundraising that's been done helped get my Dad the eight years of life past his initial diagnosis that he might not otherwise have had.

He promised to fight his cancer troubles, so far as I knew and understand.

He hasn't promised to beat his cancer troubles.

Not sorry to admit that seeing such a blurb in my inbox this morning annoys me.

When first I heard the news over the radio about Jack Layton, my reaction was exactly that: just one more thing, dammit to Hell. Just one more thing we don't need right now.

For the non-Canadians, here's the news in question:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2011/07/25/layton-ndp.html

Personal sidebar: my mother survived lung cancer a couple of decades ago, and my dad lost an eight-year fight with renal cell cancer. So I've got a bit of additional bias here.

Mr. Layton, here's wishing for the best outcome for you...

But for CBC, I'd almost forgotten...

http://archives.cbc.ca/on_this_day/06/28/

Requiescat in pacem, Terrence. Your Marathon continues.