Genocide Joe and Life vs. Death
Department
Art
Document Type
Editorial
Publication Date
11-3-2023
Abstract
This is the fourth week. I sit in the waiting room, waiting for my friend to have her radiation therapy treatment administered. The 150 mile roundtrip to the Central Arkansas Radiation Therapy Institute and the time it takes at the center is a 5-6 hour journey, and fighting the heavy traffic, especially in the congested construction areas, is unpleasant. Large trucks crowd us in between large concrete barriers. We make it to the center and I either take her in or an attendant wheels her in a wheelchair.
Frail and emaciated, she maintains her dignity by smiling and echoing upbeat greetings. She is the epitome of grace under fire; her head high, she walks through the door with poise, and when she emerges after her radiation treatment, she radiates courage and hope for those whose names will be called next to enter the doors through which one goes in to receive the life-saving radiation.
Publication Title
CounterPunch
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Halaby, Raouf J. Professor Emeritus, "Genocide Joe and Life vs. Death" (2023). Articles. 387.
https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/articles/387