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| Jan 19, 2009 Part 2: Does color really matter? |
Is perception reality?
I watched a wonderful concert live from the Lincoln Memorial yesterday. We are One was a wonderful attempt to start off the Inaugural events with entertainment that carried a serious message: if we perceive a change in the air than it may become reality. It does not matter who you voted for during election season, because all of us Americans have a stake in believing that each of us can make a difference.
Now with our nationally renewed commitment to service, to self-improvement and with an assurance by our government that our systems are strained-- but not broken-- and worthy of our support, our patience and our belief in them, maybe wishing away bad times does work. I personally have always believed that perception is reality, and while I watched the faces of the people lining the packed Washington Mall and Reflecting Pool area cheering for the stellar line-up of singers and speakers and military bands, I felt a sense of hope reflected in their cold faces.
Cancer patients are like that too. The thought of a new treatment, a cure, a new research, a new mindset will have the most level-headed of us trying copper bracelets, lavender soaps under our sheets or magic music to control our cancers—or are least our fears-- about cancer. Which brings me to my question: is it the color that really matters when it comes to believing in what is best for improving our reality?
Among two e-mails of warnings I received these last two weeks dealt with the colors red and green. The red seems logical because it was based on the experience of several chemo patients and I thought it had to do with cancer agents in the chemical red dyes that are used in food processing. I was told that while in chemo, to avoid foods with red in them. I was warned against red meat—being a vegetarian that was hardly a problem for me. The answer to the question why to avoid them surprised me: because. It was noted that cancer treatment causes an aversion to the color red, so avoid eating it or even wearing it.
At almost the same time from an international source, I got a similar warning about the color green. I though maybe it was like a polar opposite thing and that it was the same warning but from across the ocean. Actually this was a bit different. From my new friend Yaron in Israel, he writes: to “please stay away from green colors (growing). This is not the time for that...” This struck me as odd at first because, actually, biblically this is a time for the celebration of the birthday of trees (a Jewish holiday called Tu B’Shevat) and a holiday upon which our own American Arbor Day custom is based. But upon further reflection, I guess in these environmentally friendly times, it is not wise to stimulate the growth of cancer cells by encouraging them with the color green. It again seemed logical.
Okay, now maybe I will follow these bubbemieses* because who knows, they might be true, and if I believe something is working-- like my chemo treatments-- I might be able to actually feel positive enough about their effects to want to continue with this difficult drug regimen, but the real question I promised to answer in my last blog is the one that social anthropologists have studied through the decades: do blonds have more fun? But before I tackle that one, I need a chemo break..... so I will leave you, my friends with this: so maybe—especially right now--reality must be perception and vice versa.
So thank you all for your suggestions, and last night, I slept with my bar of soap under the sheets, I am now putting on my cancer bracelet, and I am off to chemo in my blue outfit with my Walkman full of positive chemo sounds and a big smile.
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*Bubbemieses in Yiddish translates to “grandmother’s tales" or in this case folkwisdom which may or may not be accurate.
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Posted by morningstar on 2009-01-20 06:37:27 | Rating: | Views: 79
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