And they were always meant to be so... Unfortunately, we have always used statistics to generalize. Cancer of the lung had always been associated with male smokers. Of late, young non smoking ladies have also been struck by an aggressive form of this dreaded neoplasia.
The last thing that you would expect to be stricken by this malignancy who be a young mid 20 fit non-smoking male who does not indulge in unhealthy activities. A pious individual with his whole future paved right in front of him with a new job and a soon-to-be bride awaiting to dream of matrimonial bliss and all the dreamy memories that come with it. It makes it worse when you have seen the boy grow right in front of your very eyes stricken by this infamously deadly crab. Armed with a chest full of hope and passionate divine mercy the family is throttling along, praying for a miracle with diligent medical advice.
About twenty years ago, through the course of my work, I came in contact with a family who never really got over the fact that the fit youngest member of their big closely knit family went for a football game with his friend and returned home as a corpse. The family could not fathom why a 22 year old active athletic male could die from pulmonary embolism (clots in veins of the lung, commonly seen in obese, sedentary or pregnant individuals). The explanation of the Divine forces had bigger plans that we, mere mortals would not comprehend, was unacceptable. The stopped visiting the House of God and observing certain religious practices that they religiously held close to their hearts. One thing that they never failed to do was to place a memorial reminder in the papers annually on his death anniversary.
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics as quoted by Twain.
The last thing that you would expect to be stricken by this malignancy who be a young mid 20 fit non-smoking male who does not indulge in unhealthy activities. A pious individual with his whole future paved right in front of him with a new job and a soon-to-be bride awaiting to dream of matrimonial bliss and all the dreamy memories that come with it. It makes it worse when you have seen the boy grow right in front of your very eyes stricken by this infamously deadly crab. Armed with a chest full of hope and passionate divine mercy the family is throttling along, praying for a miracle with diligent medical advice.
About twenty years ago, through the course of my work, I came in contact with a family who never really got over the fact that the fit youngest member of their big closely knit family went for a football game with his friend and returned home as a corpse. The family could not fathom why a 22 year old active athletic male could die from pulmonary embolism (clots in veins of the lung, commonly seen in obese, sedentary or pregnant individuals). The explanation of the Divine forces had bigger plans that we, mere mortals would not comprehend, was unacceptable. The stopped visiting the House of God and observing certain religious practices that they religiously held close to their hearts. One thing that they never failed to do was to place a memorial reminder in the papers annually on his death anniversary.
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics as quoted by Twain.
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Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
- Mark Twain's Own Autobiography: The Chapters from the North American Review
Illustration by Peter Newell from COSMOPOLITAN, August 1898
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