I make a lost of lists. Lists of books I want to read, places I want to visit, crazy things I want to do, and people I want to meet. Christopher Aiff (along with Macklemore, Oprah, and Robert Downey Jr.) is at the top of my “People I’d Love to Have A Conversation Over Coffee With” list. I first came across Christopher’s story four months ago, while pulling an all-nighter for midterms. I stumbled across a video series by SoulPancake called My Last Days: Meet Christopher Aiff.
Christopher is a 21-year-old living in Namibia who is dying of Osteosarcoma, a rare form of cancer. Doctors found the cancer in his leg, and in January of 2012, he was told that he had been cured. A mere three months later, doctors found that the cancer had spread to his lungs in the form of 50 tumors. As Christopher puts it, “Statistically I could have won the lottery, I just happened to be on the flip side of that spectrum.” After multiple rounds of chemotherapy and experiencing what he describes as what death feels like, Christopher decided to forgo the last round of chemotherapy. Doctors were no longer looking to cure him, but simply buy time. Christopher decided he didn’t want his time to be spent in a hospital, but rather to be out in the world living. With his family standing behind him, Christopher made a bucket list and is pursuing all the adventures on it. He is living what we at Invisible Children call “a life that demands explanation”.
Christopher is so incredibly articulate and wise, and of the many profound things he said, there’s one quote in particular that has reshaped the way I view everything around me.
“The decision to be positive is not one that disregards or belittles the sadness that exists. It is rather, a conscious choice to focus on the good – and to cultivate happiness, a genuine happiness. Happiness is not a limited resource. And when we devote our energy and time to trivial matters and choose to stress over things that ultimately are insignificant, from that point we perpetuate our own sadness and we lose sight of the things that really make us happy… and rationalize our way out of doing amazing things.”
His words immediately reminded me of Invisible Children and the approach we take to confront the atrocities committed by Joseph Kony and the LRA. In the face of such darkness, we choose to respond through tenacious hope and copious joy. It’s not about being naive to the reality of what’s happening, but rather, choosing to combat that very darkness with positive light.
At the end of the day, we all face hardships in life. Some are surely more difficult than others, but whatever the case may be, we can all learn from Christopher’s example. If I ever get the chance to meet him, I would thank him for teaching me more about life in 10 minutes than I’ve learned in the past 10 years.
Needless to say, you should watch the video right now.
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