Harry Reid is dying of pancreatic cancer

Fellowship of the Minds – by Dr. Eowyn

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) was Senate Majority Leader from 2007 to 2015 — credited with pushing Obamacare into law — and Senate Minority Leader from January 3, 2015 to January 3, 2017, when he retired from the U.S. Senate.

On May 14, 2018, Reid underwent surgery after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  

A source told the Nevada Independent: “They caught it early. The doctors believe it went well, and he is expected to make a full recovery.” According to Roll Call, Reid’s family put out this statement:

Today, Former Democratic Leader Harry Reid underwent surgery at Johns Hopkins Cancer Center to remove a tumor from his pancreas. His doctors caught the problem early during a routine screening and his surgeons are confident that the surgery was a success and that the prognosis for his recovery is good. He will undergo chemotherapy as the next step in his treatment. He is now out of surgery, in good spirits and resting with his family. He is grateful to his highly skilled team of doctors and to all who have sent and continue to send their love and support,” the statement said.

However, reporting for the New York Times Magazine on Jan. 2, 2019, Mark Leibovich writes:

Reid, who is 79, does not have long to live. I hate to be so abrupt about this….

I had planned to visit Reid, who had not granted an interview since his cancer diagnosis, in November, but he put me off, saying he felt too weak. People close to him were saying that he had months left, if not weeks….

Reid’s health, even before the cancer diagnosis, was a factor in opting not to seek re-election for a sixth Senate term in 2016. Over the last few months, he has had chemotherapy and two back surgeries….

Reid had dismissed Trump as a “spoiled brat,” a “con man” and a “human leech.”… In 2016, he dismissed Trump as “a big fat guy” who “didn’t win many fights.”

As with John McCain (R-AZ), I will not mourn Harry Reid’s death.

UPDATE (JAN. 4)

Reacting to this post, a Christian friend wrote in an email that he would pray for Harry Reid. Here is my response:

I’d always had problems with our Lord’s injunction to “love your neighbor as yourself”. I don’t believe He means an uncritical, all-accepting, non-“judgmental” love. That would go against everything that He is.

Nor do priests help in their homilies: I have yet to hear one that satisfactorily defines/explains what “loving your neighbor” means.

I believe the answer is in Luke 10:25-37‘s account of the Parable of the the Good Samaritan, in which a scholar of the law asked Jesus “who is my neighbor” whom Jesus enjoins us to “love as ourselves”. Jesus replied with the Parable of the Good Samaritan:

“A man fell victim to robbers as he went down to Jerusalem from Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. Likewise, a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn, and cared for him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’ Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

And so, when we are instructed to love our neighbor, in Jesus’ own words, it means that when another has fallen, through no fault of his/her, we are to treat “our neighbor” with kindness and compassion, and provide assistance to the best of our abilities. That is what it means to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

Harry Reid does not fit the definition of “our neighbor” — the man who fell victim to robbers through no fault of his own. Harry Reid’s pancreatic cancer is not akin to being robbed. Harry Reid did every evil in his life with full knowledge and free will, including profiting financially from the Obama BLM’s war against the Bundy Ranch. (See InfoWars)

And so, I do not believe I am obliged to “love” Harry Reid. I don’t hate him — I don’t hate anyone — nor did I wish him pancreatic cancer, but I do not believe he merits my kindness, compassion, assistance, or love.

“When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices; when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.” -Proverbs 11:10

~Eowyn

Fellowship of the Minds