Witness to Life

There has been a lot in the media in recent days about Jade Goody. The former Big Brother contestant has been suffering from cancer for the past while (I want to say the past year?) and has now been given  two months to live.

I admire Jade for her courage in facing this situation in public. I found this video on the Critical Studies in Television website, which highlights the positive impact this story is already causing:

The increase in awareness of cervical cancer is a good thing, especially the uptake in tests.

However, what has struck me the most is Jade’s decision as to what to do next. With two months to live, the things that have been reported in the media as the things that Jade will do be to get married, to spend time with her children and to provide for her children by having them Christened and earning money for them.

Wow. To get married and to have her children Christened.

Today, the Chartered Management Institute publish a guide for employers now that religious discrimation cases are on the rise. The mainstream media often seems hostile to religion and religious practices, often promoting the negative or the extremist viewpoints. And yet, here we have someone who has money and celebrity, someone motivated to act now, choosing Baptism and Marriage.

Jade Goody may be dying, but in these actions, it seems to me that she is witnessing powerfully to life.