"Badge of Courage"

I did not enjoy the second article, "Badge of Courage" by Deborah Lewis, as much as many of the other articles I read for today's class. It was a good story, but I did not feel that Lewis was able to keep me involved and interested in the article for its entirety. I understand that the author was using her tattoo to symbolize all of the pain and struggle during her battle with cancer. The tattoo was a type of closure for her, allowing her to focus on her victory one last time before getting back into her normal everyday life.

However, I thought that she have included more information on her struggle with her breast cancer. I felt that a small chronicle of the days of pain and the hours in hospitals would have added a great deal to her story. As a wife and a mother of two children, an anecdote about their experiences with her cancer could also have added depth to her writing. Now, the subject may be too difficult for her to speak about, or the trauma may be too soon to appear in the her writing. I just was dissapointed with the way her story ended up. I read the opening paragraph and thought that she would detail her experiences. Instead, she ends up arguing with several friends about what style of tattoo to get. I suppose that I sound inconsiderate to the woman, but I just felt that she had a great story to tell, and failed to tell it.