Elizabeth Edwards, Tony Snow: Manifesting Illness?
For eons, doctors have told us that stress brings on illness. It’s been proven in studies, and it’s just plain common sense. We’ve all experienced it in some form or another (hopefully nothing serious); and often the illness causes us to take a long-deserved “break” that forces us to take it easy for a while and get the rest we need.
Let’s look at the timeline of two figures currently in the news announcing that they have cancer:
- September 16 2003: John Edwards announces his campaign for President
- November 5 2004: Elizabeth Edwards announces she’s developed cancer in her breast.
- Dec. 28 2006: John Edwards starts another Presidential campaign
- March 22 2007: Elizabeth agains develops cancer; this time an uncurable Stage 4 variety of breast cancer that is spreading through her body.
- Late 2003: Popular news journalist Tony Snow, who has spent nearly 25 years writing news columns in various papers (including my own Virginian Pilot!) and doing occassional stand-ins for popular radio and talk show hosts along with regular (but not daily) appearances on television news shows, is given his own daily radio talk show on Fox News Radio.
- February 2005: Mr. Snow announces that he has colon cancer, and undergoes treatment to have his colon removed.
- April 26, 2006: Mr. Snow is picked to be the new White House Press Secretary
- March 27, 2007: Mr. Snow announces that he’s developed cancer in his abdomen, which has spread to his liver.
See an underlying theme here?
Once both of these individuals entered into a daily routine of ongoing stress, they developed cancer. Their bodies were trying to tell them something. Both received treatments which successfully dealt with the cancer and rid them of it in the first round.
Now, in the second round, they have again entered into stressful activities, and their cancers have returned in a much more aggressive and deadly form.
It is heartbreaking to see how clearly a person’s body will try to communicate with them; and how their own subconscious minds will manifest a physical rejection of what their conscious minds have chosen to do… and yet they ignore these blatant signposts and continue on with these activites.
If John Edwards had any sense of mind, any blip on his radar that didn’t consist of his own selfish ambitions, he’d stop his campaign immediately and ease his wife’s torture. Obviously the daily stress is too much for her - but no matter, the White House is within reach! Ugh.
As for Tony Snow, he too should take a clue from his body and step down from his post. He still has a vibrant career awaiting him as a popular journalist and radio/television talk show host, without the enormous stresses and pressures of being the White House’s mouthpiece.
Both of these people have young children and thriving families to think about, yet in both cases a career is being chosen over life and family. Again I find myself lamenting the loss of common sense. And I see clearly how “Law of Attraction” teachers such as Joe Vitale get their basis to say that you definitely do manifest your own illnesses and attract them to you. (See how Joe openly admits that he manifested his own appendicitis here.)
What do you think? I wanna know! Please leave a comment :)
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frankie said,
Wrote on March 27, 2007 @ 9:02 pm
I thought the very same thing when I read about Elizabeth Edwards. (I didn’t know who Tony Snow was!)
My cousin and I were talking about health and how we bring things on ourselves, law of attraction, etc., and we both blurted out the same question: Sometimes could it be that an illness just hits for no reason at all? I wonder if sometimes people get illnesses to teach them lessons on their life path. I don’t know.
Have you read Caroline Myss? She’s a medical intuitive and I love her books. I have an older book of hers which I can’t remember the title at the moment, but she explains the energy behind specific illnesses. Very fascinating.
Carrie said,
Wrote on March 28, 2007 @ 1:22 am
I haven’t read Caroline Myss but I’ll check and see if our library has any of her books. If not, she’ll have to wait a bit - I’ve got quite a backlog, lol.
“Sometimes could it be that an illness just hits for no reason at all?”
Well sure. I think so, at least. There are of course viral illnesses, and people who are genetically predisposed to contract certain illnesses - but then there’s also Nature. We’re human. We’re not infallible. Our bodies aren’t totally resistant to disease (whether that’s unfortunate or fortunate is another topic, lol).
I’ve been reading the message boards at Oprah about the shows she did on The Secret and the vehemence of some of the posters was overwhelming. Most of the folks were grateful for the shows, but a few people in particular made a point to try to respond to nearly every post with something belittling and negative. They kept pointing things out like “so did the folks attract hurricane Katrina to them?”
I mean, c’mon.
Yes, it was a bad situation. Do I think they attracted it? No. Mother nature will do what mother nature wants to do, and we are either prepared for it or we aren’t. There were plenty of people involved in hurricane Katrina who had no “bad” experience with it at all - they got out early, they had another place planned to stay, they had hurricane and flood insurance on their house, etc. They were prepared (something you think would be important living right off of the hurricane-ridden Gulf Coast in a city that’s below sea level). The folks who had a BAD experience with Katrina - I think it’s pretty safe to say they weren’t prepared.
I think sometimes nature just throws a curve ball your way and your real test is whether you roll with it or not; how you perceive the situation, how you react, and what the final outcome is.
The Holocaust is another big subject with LOA objectors. Did the Jews attract that? My answer is no. Joe Vitale might say they did, by wanting to be martyrs or something, but I honestly think that the Holocaust is due to *Hitler’s* vision of what the world should be like. Like it or not, he practiced the steps outlined… he envisioned it, he focused on it, he took steps to get to a place of power where he could achieve it - and he nearly did achieve it. Never underestimate the power and ambition of someone hellbent on pure unadulterated evil.
Could the Jews have gotten out and saved themselves? Perhaps, I don’t know - I wasn’t there. I believe there had to be some warning signs in the beginning, but maybe I’m completely wrong. (There goes another book for my list - the author that Oprah raves about being one of her living heroes; he survived the Natzi death camps. I would really like to read his book.)
I really do have a big long post about all of this and my take on it rolling around in the back of my head trying to take form; it just hasn’t completely “jelled” yet. Maybe I’d just be contributing to the controversy though; everyone has their own take on things and that’s why it’s so confusing to those who don’t “get” it.
I also find it extremely interesting to see that the people yelling so loudly against LOA and The Secret are saying the *exact* same things as the people who yell so loudly against the idea that there exists a benevolent God. (You know the ones, why did God allow that little girl to be murdered, why did God bring down hurricane Katrina on his children, why did God… etc etc etc.)
Maybe all in all it’s just a matter of faith; faith in yourself, faith in the world, faith in a higher power (whatever you choose to name that higher power) - and what these naysayers are really yelling about is that their lives are so empty and meaningless that they can’t even begin to imagine having any kind of faith - in anything. Least of all themselves.
Hrmm.
frankie said,
Wrote on March 28, 2007 @ 7:32 pm
I haven’t been reading Oprah’s board. I have known or practiced LOA all my adult life — usually negatively. lol It frustrates me that people go into attack mode (even attack by words on a board.) Live and let live — and each has their own truth.
My MIL, a devout Christian, once told me that the bible said that the Jews would be persecuted and she had absolutely no feeling for holocaust victims whatsoever. That took place about a month before I gave up organized religion forever.
I have not thought through the Holocaust. I’ll check out Vitale’s website.
Oh, fwiw, the book I specifically like by Myss is The Creation of Health. I have other books of hers but that one is a “fun” read for me.
Lisa Ann Homic said,
Wrote on March 31, 2007 @ 5:50 pm
“anatomy of the spirit” is another excellent Myss book. I’m curious for your opinion. I do adore the LOA principles and pratice them with much more vigor.
What about famous people who never get ill? How do they handle stress better? Is it not stress to them?
kabbage said,
Wrote on April 6, 2007 @ 3:56 pm
I agree that Ms. Edwards and Mr. Snow’s bodies seem to be saying the careers they are currently in are extremely stressful and life-threatening to them. I do feel, however, that it is up to them to choose whether or not to renounce those careers. I hope someone close to each of them has stopped and said, “Hey, have you noticed the correlation between stressful job and cancer showing up?” but I don’t think either Snow or Edwards is obligated to give up a career even if it seems likely to kill them.
Martin Luther King had young children, too, and I think he knew there was a fairly good chance he’d be assassinated, but he chose to continue his push for civil rights. We honor the choice he made as right for him, and I think we should honor Edwards’ and Snow’s choices as right for each of them. Whether you or I would make a different choice is irrelevant.