Reagan’s Cancer

Our President is 74 and he has cancer. I am the same age, and I, too, have cancer. With my cancer has come an opportunity to be contemplative.

I can’t help but reflect on the values manifested by our actions and inactions as a nation. A whole litany of things come to mind: the huge amount of money going into weapons research and the minimum amounts going into medical research; our polluted water, air and soil; and the curtailment of vital human services.

Your editorial correctly indicates that cancer “strikes the young and old, the fit and the weak, the rich and the poor, the common and Presidents.” It also indicates that “what is guaranteed is that the President will receive the best of care and regular exams to guard against any further onslaughts.”

It is my fervent hope that as the President recovers as a result of the best of care, he will become contemplative, as I have. And that he will contemplate how science and technology can enhance as well as destroy life. May he have the wisdom to use his great powers for the enhancement rather than the destruction of life. And may he have the compassion to understand the plight of those for whom the best of care is not available.

BEN KOGON

Santa Monica