March 5 Alternatives to Fighting

We view the health care system as waging a heroic fight against death and disease. The immune system is the corresponding fighter inside the body. Our image of the immune system has it battling enemies that invade the body from outside.
Although the warrior image seems obvious to us, it is a concept of our own creation. It is not the only way to describe what the immune system does.
The immune system demonstrates the wisdom of the body. It must know which cells are part of “me” and which aren’t. Its job is to distinguish self from not-self, to discover what doesn’t belong – an impressive feat, if you think about it. If we look at this aspect of the immune system, we could consider it to be a sage instead of a warrior, or maybe a radar system.
Once the immune system detects the presence of what doesn’t belong, we could say that it cleans up, takes out the trash. We could picture it as a housekeeper or repairman.
People who are ill are often urged to fight the disease, especially if they have cancer. But fighting is not the only choice. In their book Speak the Language of Healing: Living With Breast Cancer Without Going to War, Susan Kuner, Carol Orsborn, Linda Quigley, and Karen Stroup describe their experiences with breast cancer. All chose to approach the cancer without fighting. For each of the four authors, this choice came from a religious or spiritual point of view.
Those who have an illness are urged to fight and may be told “you have no choice.” But there are always choices, and the person with the illness is the one who makes the choice. Fighting is only one option.