Why I'm not having breast reconstruction
It’s one week since I found out I need a mastectomy. It feels like a month!Last Wednesday when my surgeon explained that the pathology on the surgery I’d had the week before revealed invasive cancer,...
Forum Discussion
One of the things I loved about policing was the notion of 'mens rea' which is latin for 'guilty mind'. In order to prove a criminal act you have to prove not only that the act was illegal, but that the person knew it was and did it anyway.
I think a forum for people experiencing cancer is going to have a lot of raw emotions. How could it not? I find that if I look at the intent of the author it's very difficult to take offence at anything. People are suffering. They are expressing how they feel. They do not mean to cause offence.
I can understand how someone would use words like 'freak' and 'frankenstein' in situations like these, although I choose not to describe things that way. I can also understand how others would find these kinds of references offensive.
Perhaps if we all take a deep breath and remember that most of us are going through horrible, traumatic times and this can make us less kind than we would usually be. If we look to the intent, I'm sure that none of us come here with the intention of offending anyone.
Some people are just venting. All of this is hard.
I choose to believe that people are just expressing their own pain and that it's not about me. There is no 'mens rea'. We have enough love and tolerance to allow for that.
Meg
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