How a 46-year-old dying man revived my hope in optimism
Optimism isn’t just about “positive thinking”; it’s the heroic way to move through life.
I read a letter written by 46-year-old Simon Boas about his impending death from terminal throat cancer. First published in the Jersey Evening Post, then republished in The Spectator under the headline “An optimist’s guide to dying: Life lessons from cancerland”, what was so beautiful about Boas’ letter was that it was not a lament or protest against death, but an uplifting message about the privilege of having life.
Told that he only had months to live, Boas — the director of Jersey Overseas Aid and chair of Jersey Heritage — wrote, “Although the chemo and radiation did a good job on the tumors in my throat and neck, my lungs are now riddled with the bloody things. The prognosis is not quite ‘Don’t buy any green bananas’, but it’s pretty close to ‘Don’t start any long books’.”
Boas mentioned three related thoughts that kept coming to his mind, which brought him joy and which he wishes to share with his readers. He does a more eloquent job than me in expressing his sentiments, but I’ve summed them up below:
1) He knows he has had “a really good — almost charmed — life”, primarily because he has loved and been loved.
