this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2024
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[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

Most people don’t willingly receive cancer.

When I was a kid, my parents were able to set aside money for my benefit in advance so that when I started college I had enough for tuition, housing, and a car. When I graduated, I even had enough left over for a down payment on a starter home.

I didn't get to choose this. It was decided for me the day I was born. It was given to me purely by dint of who my parents happened to be and where I lived. In other countries, everyone has access to this level of ~~public health care~~ cough excuse me cough higher education. But I had to rely on a private system that rewarded people with the means to accumulate financial surplus.

Also, my mom smoked when she was younger. But when she started trying to get pregnant, she quit. If she'd continued smoking through the pregnancy, it would have significantly increased my chance to develop some form of childhood cancer. Again, this was not something I got to choose. It was purely a consequence of my parents' decisions.