The UN estimates 14,000 children die every day worldwide. So, if you have one of those, ‘my child had stage 4 cancer, we prayed, and then everything was fine” stories, go f–k yourself.
There is the exception and then there is the rule. Most children diagnosed with stage 4 cancer will die, no matter how hard their parents pray. That is the rule. Yet we focus on the exception. The glamorized, against all odds stories. “Stories” because that is what they are, or a more fitting title might be “fairy tales” because that better fits their likelihood.
I have really been vibing with Hallow this Lenten season until tonight when I began listening to a Miss Linda Maliani’s “Surrender Story.” Linda and her husband were lukewarm Catholics when they discovered their two-year-old daughter Alyssa had stage 4 neuroblastoma. Long story short, Linda hears God’s voice, meets Mother Theresa, and the tumor disappears. Not only that but Alyssa defeats the odds again at age 14 when diagnosed with a dangerous heart condition. Then again Alyssa survives four pregnancies doctors recommended she abort because of said heart condition. Am I supposed to be impressed by this surrender story? A family gets everything they want and in turn they praise God for all His glory and become activated Catholics?
You know what would have been an impressive surrender story? Interviewing the mother, whose daughter DIDN’T survive cancer and still surrendered to God. Where is that story Hallow? Remember, it is EASY to have faith when you get the outcome you pray for and nothing EASY is ever impressive.
So, in conclusion if I have one more made-for-tv movie miracle plotline shoved down my throat, I’m going to have an aneurism. JUST BECAUSE YOU PRAY FOR SOEMTHING, DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE GOING TO GET IT. So please stop selling that notion. And until someone can offer a better consolation than, “It wasn’t God’s will,” take your miracle and run! You wouldn’t sit and eat filet mignon in front of a homeless person, so don’t broadcast your survival story to all the parents who have buried a child. That’s just bad manners. I’m not sure what these stories accomplish other than spread false hope and make the parents of previously mentioned 14,000 children feel horrible about themselves, but hopefully one day in the near future we will look back at these stories and think, “That didn’t age well, did it?”