a specific purpose in mind: to stop the guy’s attitude from spreading to the other players. For the coach knows that if too many more players are infected with this attitude, the team will go down in flames. The disease will spread and kill the host, just like a deadly form of cancer would.
The question has been asked many times: Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching? We’ve all seen what can happen when one negative co-worker poisons the office well. The same can be said of students in the classroom—particularly those in oppositional defiance to anyone and everyone in a position of authority. Greed, godlessness, selfishness, and dishonesty are cancers that can take over a host, turning him into a factory of immorality. These cancers can be passed down in families. They can be taught and inculcated. They can come about as the result of neglect or a lack of education. But they are cancerous, they do spread, and they can be fatal. One thing’s for sure, they have some of the same qualities as physical cancers.
-We are not aware of the moment a cancer hits.
-We are often not aware when it begins to spread.
-Cancer spreads rapidly, catching the host off guard.
-Cancer may not even be detected until it’s too late.
-Cancer is tough; a mere aspirin or a course of antibiotics will do no good.
-Cancer’s mission is to take control. Its mission is selfish. Its mission is destructive. A deadly cancer does not care that it is destroying the host… thus ending its own reign of terror when the host dies.
As I alluded to earlier, the good news coming out of our laboratories is that modern cancer treatments are getting more and more specific. They are killing cancer cells without always destroying healthy cells. That’s precisely the aim of mental chemo. It won’t kill other cells and, therefore, can only do a person good. But I have a few caveats. First of all, any re-training of a person’s belief system will meet with fierce resistance. Cancers don’t give up easily. They don’t quit. Cancer must be yanked out by its roots, and that always disturbs the soil. But though the effort can be messy and time-consuming, it can yield wonderful results.
To round out the list of cancers, I’ll also touch upon Justifications—the ability to rationalize any behavior; Fundamentalism—a paralyzing condition that comes with an attitude of superiority as well as the inability to accept modern advances; and, finally, Compartmentalization—selectively turning off one’s moral conscience when it’s convenient to do so.
Each is dangerous in its own way. Should we ever recognize such cancers, it is our moral duty to excise them without delay.
Thomas E. Mahon
March 17, 2012
The Cancer of Justifications
“An explanation of cause is not a justification by reason.” C.S. Lewis
Diagnosis: A vicious cancer that allows the patient to play mind tricks and make excuses for any behavior, even abhorrent behavior.
Diagnostic Warning Signs: The clinician will detect an overriding desire, on the part of the patient, to reduce stress that is caused by ideas in conflict. In many instances, the patient will not bother to consider what is right, only what causes the least amount of worry or stress.
Amanda loves Bryce? A Case Study in Justifications
Amanda was a junior at our high school and, to look at her, you wouldn’t think she had cancer—specifically the ability to justify practically anything. She caught me outside my classroom one morning, looking like she hadn’t slept in days. She was fidgety and kept stealing sideways glances down the hallway. “I need to talk to you,” she said.
Uh-Oh, I thought. That didn’t sound so good.
I knew Amanda pretty well. She was in my fifth hour Global Studies class and we spoke on occasion. I told her I’d be happy to set aside some time in my day for her. “Why don’t you stop by during your lunch period? You know where to find me.”
She nodded. And, just like that, she was soon lost in the mad rush to 3rd hour.
To tell you the truth, I already knew Amanda wanted to talk about her boyfriend, Bryce. Two out of three conversations with her involved this guy—a pretty clueless baseball player with below average grades. The two had been dating on an off since their first year of high school, and the relationship was nothing short of a disaster. You know the type: exaggerated public affection, bickering, frequent blowups (often in the middle of the hallway or cafeteria), and numerous break-ups, followed by mushy and pathetic reconciliations. Remember high school? Remember these couples?
Earlier that year, I pointed out the pattern to Amanda only to get this in return: “Each time Bryce and I break up and get back together, our relationship ends up being stronger.” I exhaled and plucked a large paper clip from my top desk drawer. Unfolding the paperclip so it resembled a large S, I gave it to Amanda. I told her to bend the ends downward, and then back up. She did. I told her to keep bending the paperclip. “It’s getting warm,” she announced after a few, short moments. Naturally, just like her relationship with Bryce. And each bend of the paperclip, I informed her, represented a breakup. “That’s so not true,” she said. Then something predictable happened: the paper clip snapped in two. Amanda rolled her eyes, tossed the broken pieces into my waste paper basket and turned to leave. “I get it. Clever trick, Mr. Mahon. You just don’t know how it is with us.” She waved. “Anyway, gotta go. See you in class.”
She was out the door.
Sometimes they just don’t get it.
My room was situated toward the back of the campus, adjacent to the tennis courts. At lunch, I would retreat to its quiet confines and eat my sandwich and chips. Amanda burst in the door with about twenty minutes left in the lunch period. Tears dribbled down her cheeks, and it took me a minute or two just to calm her down. “Bryce is hooking up with other girls,” she finally announced, planting herself in the desk across from me. “Bastard.”
Hooking up. If you’ve worked with teenagers as long as I have, you’d realize this phrase could mean anything from holding hands to all-out sexual intercourse. I asked Amanda what she meant by hooking up. “What the hell? He’s having sex with other girls,” she barked. I took special note of other girls. Ninety-nine chances out of a hundred, a couple like Amanda and Bryce are going to be sexually active. These two were no exception.
“How do you know he’s cheating on you?”
She spent the next several minutes detailing her extensive spy and reconnaissance network. After Amanda had finished chronicling the events of the past month, I had absolutely no doubt about Bryce’s infidelity. With the easy part out of the way, I now wanted to know what she was going to do about the situation. Listen, I’m a typical man. You present me with a problem and I’m going to start devising ways to attack it. John Gray, in his book Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, calls this the Mr. Fix-It mentality. I’m definitely that guy. Just ask my wife. It infuriates her to no end.
“What do you mean what am I going to do?” she asked.
Apparently she wasn’t too hip to the Mr. Fix-It approach, so I just let her talk. Apparently, according to John Gray, the majority of the citizens from Venus like to talk.
