Whenever I see a news story about someone getting punished for pretending to have a terminal illness, I feel sick to my stomach. What has society come to, that we attack each other over a common money-making cancer scam?
Hey, we’ve all made mistakes in life. Who among us hasn’t fabricated a terminal illness at one time or another?
People need to ease up on Belle Gibson, the Australian blogger who admitted she doesn’t have brain cancer after all. The media cycle is always looking for an illness-fabricating, sacrificial lamb to keep everyone satisfied, and this time, it’s her. Instead of being angry at her for faking a terminal illness and then pretending to have cured it with diet and natural remedies, building an entire media empire on that lie, shouldn’t we just be happy that she doesn’t have cancer?
So what if you personally haven’t fabricated a terminal illness yet? It doesn’t mean you won’t do it in the future. For all we know, tomorrow you could wake up and decide that you have leukemia. I might feel like pretending to have leukemia was the best version of myself to present to the world on a given day. And if I did make that questionable decision, I would forgive myself immediately, and I would expect others to do the same.
Forgiveness is an important thing, you see. Belle Gibson has come forward and admitted that she made everything up, so why can’t people just step back and say, “Thank you for your honesty, Belle. I admire your courage in coming forward.” More people should make the compassionate choice and do this—except for the people who actually do have cancer and are currently too weak or dead to send her an email. For everyone else who has less-serious cancer or entirely made-up cancer, what gives? Why the negativity? Don’t you know that can cause even more cancer?
You guys, anger is a poison that you drink yourself. Then again, so is chemo. So if you’re already on chemo, you probably can’t afford the additional poison of being mad at Belle Gibson. She’s got enough to deal with now, although cancer is not one of those things. Phew, right? No wonder she looked so healthy in those interviews!
No one should wish actual cancer on someone who until now has only had fake cancer. So let’s not do that. Instead, let’s focus on the good that can come out of this situation. For one thing, it turns out that people have a whole lot of faith in fruits and vegetables! This is a good thing! Belle Gibson also made a great app! So what if she faked the whole thing. She’s a powerful woman in tech and the world needs more of those! I say, good on you, Belle, and don’t let the haters get you down!
By the way, I think I maybe do have leukemia. Just kidding! But I do have a fridge full of kale. And that’s what really matters.
