Learning from Bob Novak's cancer

After events of this week, and given what we all face in the weeks ahead as the campaign rolls out, we could probably all stand to step away from our political arguments and read Bob Novak's column about what he has learned from living with brain cancer. He has been given six months to a year to live. Excerpts:

Being read your death sentence is like being a character in one of the old
Bette Davis movies.

I believe I was able to withstand this shock because of my Catholic faith,
to which I converted in 1998.

[snip]

In today's world, it is up to the "informed patient" to make many
decisions affecting treatment. My dear friend Bob Shrum, the Democratic
political operative, asked Sen. Kennedy's wife, Vicki, to call me. I
barely know Mrs. Kennedy, but I have found her to be a warm and gracious
person. I have had few good things to say about Teddy Kennedy since I
first met him at the 1960 Democratic National Convention, but he and his
wife have treated me like a close friend. She was enthusiastic about Dr.
Friedman and urged me to opt for surgery at Duke.

The Kennedys were not concerned by political and ideological differences
when someone's life was at stake, recalling at least the myth of milder
days in Washington. My long conversation with Vicki Kennedy filled me with
hope.

Though angry bloggers profess to take delight in my distress, I feel no
need to pay them attention in the face of an outpouring of goodwill. I
thought 51 years of rough-and-tumble journalism in Washington had made me
more enemies than friends, but my recent experience suggests the opposite
may be the case.

Support for me and promises of prayers have poured in from all sides,
including from political figures who had not been happy with my columns.
I'm told that George W. Bush has not liked my criticism, particularly of
his Iraq war policy. But the president is a compassionate man, and he
telephoned me at 7:24 a.m. on Aug. 15, six minutes before I went into
surgery. The conversation lasted only a minute, but his prayerful concern
was touching and much appreciated.

This is what life is all about. Not our shouting at each other on blogs and in comboxes. It's good to be reminded of that.