Senate Sketches #1080 - Capital City Free Press

Volume 7, Issue 3, March 2008

Senate Sketches #1080

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Alabama State Senator Hank Sanders
Special to the Free Press

The cell phone kept ringing every few minutes and sometimes every few seconds. It rang seven times in the space of a quarter hour. I recognized the number but could not answer. I was in the pulpit of the Tabernacle Baptist Church. It was the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration Program. The truth crawls while lies fly.

When the program ended, I immediately called. I quickly perceived the urgent anxiousness in Sharon Wheeler’s voice. “Do you have cancer?” she asked. “Senator ... told Senator … you had colon cancer.” “They wish,” I said as I laughed. She was immediately relieved and said, “I don’t know what we would do if something happened to you.” Sharon is a member of Senate President Pro Tem Hinton Mitchem’s staff. The first unnamed senator is a Republican and the second is Democrat.

A few days later, Dr. James Mitchell asked me about my health. I heard more than a simple “How are you doing?” in his question. Upon inquiry, he told me that lots of people had asked specifically about my health. I told him about the cancer rumor. “That explains it,” he said. Dr. Mitchell is the president of Wallace Community College Selma.

This week, Ginger Avery Buckner asked, “Do you have a health issue?” I responded, “Yes. I shared my low platelet problem with you.” She said, “Someone said you have colon cancer.” I assured her I did not. Ginger is the executive director of the Alabama Association for Justice.

I have been very open about my low platelet problem (ITP or Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura). It prevented me from having knee replacement surgery on November 7. I have also been open about the steroid treatment for the ITP. I have even been open about the possibility of my spleen being removed if the steroids do not work. In spite of my openness, there are still false rumors. The truth crawls while lies fly.

I had specifically talked with Sharon, James, and Ginger on more than one occasion. Each is a friend. Still, each had serious doubts when they heard this false rumor. James specifically said, “I wondered if there was something you were not telling me.” I assured him that I was both honest and frank about my health problems.

These are my friends. I talk to them regularly. Each wants the best for me. Yet each was subject to the force of the lie. What is it that makes us more subject to lies than truths? The reasons are many and varied. The truth crawls while lies fly.

Sometimes we hide serious illnesses even from those close to us. We don’t want them to know. We don’t want them to be concerned or pity us or experience a struggle in any form it. Because we sometimes hide our illnesses, it’s easy to assume that others are hiding their illnesses. This may be why we are sometimes subject to the force of flying rumors.

Sometimes we want or need to believe something negative about a particular person or persons. When that happens, our mental and emotional soils are fertile for bad rumors. Sometimes we speculate, starting rumors ourselves. When a need is there, we believe in spite of logic or reason. The truth crawls while lies fly.

I knew the matter was reaching significant proportions when I received a card from a Republican senator expressing “concern for your health issue.” I really appreciated the card, but I knew this was spurred by the cancer rumor, not the platelet problem.

I also noticed a certain look in the eyes of some I encountered. It was a mixture of concern and apprehension and indecision. They did not know what to say. More often than not they did not know whether to say anything. Some tried to ease up to the issue.

I did not know what to do. I thought: “If I do nothing, the rumors will continue to spread. If I try to stop them, they will spread even faster. It is a catch 22.”

I shared the rumor with those at a Senate Democratic Caucus meeting. I could not easily explain what ITP is, but I referred to Senator Parker Griffith (D-Huntsville) who is a real medical doctor. Lieutenant Governor Jim Folsom, Jr. cracked, “We may not believe you Hank, but we will believe Parker.” Everyone laughed.

I began writing this Senate Sketches to share my “rumor experience” with you. I had the rough draft faxed to my Montgomery office so I could work on it. My assistant, Sharon Calhoun, read it. Then she shared with me how someone had insisted that I had cancer in spite of her saying I did not. Others had also asked. Until the Sketches arrived, she did not share these happenings with me. Still the truth crawls while lies fly.

I was being open about my knee replacement and IPT issues in hope of helping others to share. I discovered several persons whom I know well that have ITP but had not mentioned it. I hope I continue to be open. When we serve as elected officials or are otherwise in the public eye, we are always subject to rumors. We cannot, however, allow rumors to control our lives. We just go on, doing what we do.

EPILOGUE – Negative rumors are powerful. They have a life of their own. Every effort to squash them seems to fuel them. Still, we cannot allow rumors to increase their power by changing what we do. We fight rumors best by living our lives.