I Don't Get the Metaphors

I was struck by an article in today's Slate arguing that we've reached the point where the journey may be replacing battle as the preferred metaphor for people's experience of cancer. I'm certainly no advocate for the battle metaphors -- and I love the quote in the piece from Aria Jones: "If I die of this relapsed, refractory Acute Myelogenous Leukemia, and you describe me posthumously as having 'lost her battle with cancer,' I swear to God I will come back from wherever my soul may have been sent and haunt the living shit out of you for the rest of your days" -- but I can't say I'm as excited as the article's author about "journey."

I don't really feel like I'm on a journey with cancer, anymore than I'm on a journey with diabetes -- or hang nails for that matter. Cancer's just there. You get your scans, you make you choices, and you live your life for as long as you've got. It's not something that needs to be understood, so I don't really see the need for metaphors to understand it. 

But once again, I'm probably in the minority. The need for metaphor seems to be pretty deeply ingrained in conversations about cancer. And if I have to choose one, I'll definitely take journeys over battles.

Especially since I just bought tickets for another leg of the GCW Tour: Australia (well, Sydney) and New Zealand, next February.