“We should be dazzled by our good fortune — dancing on the tables every day,” Simon Boas wrote in his letter, which was headed “A Beginner’s Guide to Dying.” Boas was given a life expectancy of between six and twelve months in February.
Many people have been inspired by a heartfelt letter written by a 46-year-old man who is battling terminal illness. In the letter, he expresses his gratitude for the life he has lived and describes how he has learnt to accept his own mortality.
In a long feature that was published earlier this week for The Telegraph, Simon Boas discussed his letter, which was headed “A Beginner’s Guide to Dying.” Boas also discussed his experiences with loss.
In August, Boas, who resides on the Channel Island of Jersey, was given a diagnosis of throat cancer. In February, he was given a prognosis of six to twelve months to survive.
This is how Boas started his letter, which was first published in the Jersey Evening Post in February. “My favorite bit of understatement ever comes not from a Brit or a Spartan but from the Japanese Emperor Hirohito,” Boas said at the beginning of his letter. “In August 1945, following Japan’s defeats in every recent battle and the obliteration of two cities with nuclear bombs, he broadcast that ‘the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage.'”
“Well, I’m sorry to have to announce that my cancer situation has also developed not necessarily to my advantage,” he said in conclusion.
According to Boas, who is the director of Jersey Overseas Aid, he remembered how he was diagnosed with “advanced throat cancer” in August and how he went through a “fairly aggressive regime of treatment to try to cure it,” which included chemotherapy and radiation. Although the therapy was successful in reducing the size of the tumors that were located in Boas’s throat and neck, he reported that his lungs were “now riddled with the bloody things.”
“The prognosis is not quite ‘Don’t buy any green bananas’ but it’s pretty close to ‘Don’t start any long books,'” he said in his article. “So it seems I’m going to hop the twig, and probably sooner rather than later.”
As a result of his condition, Boas said that “many things give me comfort,” which includes “support and compassion” from friends, loved ones, and “even total strangers,” in addition to his employment.
“And there are three related thoughts I have again and again, which bring me joy and which I would like to share,” he wrote in his journal.
“First and foremost, I find solace in the idea that I have been blessed with a life that is really wonderful and nearly extraordinary. (I will begin with the bragging, with the expectation that you will have forgiven or forgotten it by the time I reach the end of this.)” Boas remarked before going on to describe some of the wonderful adventures and journeys he has had during his life and work.
“I have climbed the Great Pyramid, sailed across the Med and chipped chunks of concrete off Checkpoint Charlie,” he said in his journal. “I have traveled extensively on five continents, sung in choirs on three and crossed borders with diplomatic immunity.”
Above all else, I have loved and been loved by this world. “I am completely engulfed in the substance; my cup is overflowing,” Boas said.
Despite the fact that he is just 46 years old, he has said that he has “lived far longer than most of the humans in the 300,000-year history of our species.”
“And if the book of my life is shorter than many modern people’s, it doesn’t make it any less of a good read,” he said in conclusion. When it comes to lives, there is no correlation between length and quality in the same way that there is in books or films. So make the most of this moment and continue to do so. Have fun with the insignificant ways in which you can make other individuals a little bit happy. It is truly the key to one’s own happiness that this is the secret.
Boas said that his “second comforting thought” is that even though “nobody knows whether there is a God, or an afterlife,” he stated that “our almost-instinct may well be almost true: What will survive of us is love.” Boas provided all of this information with the audience.
“And finally, the thought I keep coming back to is how lucky it is to have lived at all,” he went to explain. “To be alive is to have been the lucky winner of the lottery.” In point of fact, there are so many instances of very improbable good luck that have happened only for us to be born, that it is as if we have won the lottery every single day of the year.
After some time had passed, Boas went on to express his thanks for the successful life he has led, before mentioning that all of us have had “good fortune” in our lives, regardless of whether or not we have been aware of it.
“So, if I whine that my life will have been shorter than many modern people’s, I am massively missing the point,” he said in his article. “I’ve been around for forty-six years! As churlish as winning the Euromillions jackpot of 92 million pounds and then moaning bitterly when you find out that there is another winning ticket and you will only receive half of the money, this is the same thing.
“Life is an experience that is extraordinarily valuable, improbable, and wonderful… We need to be awestruck by our good fortune, which consists of dancing on the tables on a daily basis. He came to the conclusion that he intended to continue dancing for the remainder of the time that he had left in this location, and who knows? Maybe even beyond that.
Here is the whole version of his letter.
During an interview with The Telegraph, Boas provided a comprehensive account of his life, work, and legacy, as well as the reasons for his ability to have such a positive attitude on life after receiving his diagnosis. There have been hundreds of strangers who have reached out to him in reaction to his letter, including the writer from The Telegraph who wrote the feature. He also remarked on the enormous response he has gotten to his message.
“The response has been wonderful and it’s brought me such happiness to know I have made a difference,” Boas said to reporters. At the outset, I made the decision to respond to each and every one of them. The problem is that it is taking up a significant amount of time currently.
When it comes to those individuals, such as his colleagues and loved ones, who are having to come to terms with the knowledge that Boas’ disease is terminal, he advised them to “enjoy the tiny ways you can make other people a little happier, that way lies your own happiness.”
Never in my life have I compared myself to others. In addition, he said that the ability to make preparations for one’s own loss, together with those of one’s loved ones, is a blessing. “Because I am aware that I am going to pass away, it is much simpler for me to focus on the goodness and the best in other people. I am leaving life because I love it and everyone who is a part of it.