Former GOP Senator Dying Of Cancer Delivers Powerful Message

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This week, former Republican Senator Ben Sasse shared some devastating news. 

Sasse announced Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and that it is only a matter of time – not very much time, frankly– before the “wicked thief” and “bastard” death whisks him away. 

Sasse is 53.

His stoic message is worth reading in full. He talks about his Christian faith, his family, his friends, and the meaning of Christmas, among other things, some of which are morbid. But there was one line toward the end that really caught my eye.

“Death and dying aren’t the same — the process of dying is still something to be lived. We’re zealously embracing a lot of gallows humor in our house, and I’ve pledged to do my part to run through the irreverent tape,” Sasse wrote. 

We’re zealously embracing a lot of gallows humor in our house, and I’ve pledged to do my part to run through the irreverent tape. 

What a stoic outlook! What a line, running through the irreverent tape!

Lots of people might have said irrelevant tape, because when you are terminally ill, is there a point? Of course, there is, but some of us would get sucked into the black shadow of pessimism cast by death. Sasse says “irreverent” because the tape is still important, but he is recognizing the irony of his situation. He’ll be seizing the day not by going on a physical adventure or embarking on a new career, but by accepting his fate and dying with dignity. 

And how his family is “embracing a lot of gallows humor.” There’s something to be said of humor, its power, and how we humans have evolved to use it, rely on it, in the face of terrible realities and insurmountable odds. 

Before we can even talk, we as humans understand humor. Babies laugh before they utter the words, “Mama” or “Dada.” You can make a baby laugh simply by hiding your face with your hands and then revealing yourself with a toothy grin (that could also make them cry, too). 

Why is that? 

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Maybe because humor is our great coping mechanism. It allows us to diffuse our differences and turn an insult into a funny joke. For example, after Hillary Clinton called MAGA Trump supporters “deplorables,” everyone on the right adopted “deplorables” as a badge of honor. What was deeply offensive turned out to be a powerful joke, at the expense of Clinton, not the MAGA faithful. Perhaps babies can laugh because they need to cope with the daunting, unfamiliar world around them. A living room filled with aunts and uncles – creepy strangers, from a baby’s perspective – is much different than the warm blackness of a womb. 

Gallows humor, most of all, has the power to keep us from succumbing to pessimism or fear. I once heard a story of an army officer in World War I who went over the trenches, pointing with his arm, yelling, “Forward, men!” A grenade or an artillery shell immediately exploded in his vicinity, and its shrapnel sliced off the arm clean. Horrifying, right? The other soldiers all had a laugh as they charged toward their certain doom. 

Sasse is trying to laugh, as well. He knows the odds are against him, but he’s going to keep finding the humor and irony in things until the bitter, unfunny end. That’s an outlook we should all aspire to. 

Sasse the stoic. I am praying for you and your family, and I pray that there is a miracle awaiting you in the very near future. If there isn’t one, then Godspeed, and I’ll see you on the other side. We’ll have a chat about why you voted to convict Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial.

This post is adapted from the Daily Caller’s Substack, State of the Day. Click here to sign up and get exclusive content, the Caller’s full slate of newsletters, hot takes, and informative, long-form pieces direct to your inbox.