The terror of cancer, the cancer of terrorism

This past weekend, I lost a friend to cancer — that dark, dangerous disease in which destructive cells lurk and stalk innocent bodies. Cancer creeps and crawls, clawing away at strong bodies made weaker by its presence. In this case, it took a beautiful woman, wife, mother and friend away.

This past week, the world saw brutal images of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorists on television and the face of an innocent young American woman caught up in the danger and destruction. In that case, human beings took away someone’s daughter; someone’s friend.

{mosads}Unnecessary losses are the ones hardest to bear and although the causes are vastly different — cancer and terrorism — both should make us mad as hell and not willing to take it anymore without a fight.

Cancer cells are terrorists that spread if not stopped. Terrorist cells are cancers that spread if not stopped. How can we address both in this global age of limited resources?

First: The fight against cancer must be waged urgently and internationally. In 2014, there were an estimated 1.7 million new cancer cases diagnosed and 585,720 cancer deaths in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society. Cancer remains the second-most common cause of death in the U.S., accounting for nearly one of every 4 deaths. We need more prevention and better intelligence about why cells behave the way they do and how to ensure that we spot their abnormal activity early enough to restrict their movement to parts of the body where cancer is harder to contain. Then we need mitigation strategies to minimize the effects of cancer once it develops and to reduce the likelihood that it goes beyond its origins. Ultimately, we need an answer to protect the human body against the intrusion of cancer so that innocent people do not have to face the arduous journey of fighting back the disease. We need a cure. That requires money — including federal dollars. If we don’t spend it, we can’t end it.

The fight against terrorism, like cancer, has to be waged internationally. Terrorism takes fewer lives than cancer, but it is on the rise. The number of deaths from terrorism increased by 61 percent between 2012 and 2013, a study into international terrorism says. There were nearly 10,000 terrorist attacks in 2013, a 44 percent increase from the previous year according to the Global Terrorism Index 2014 report. A report by the Institute for Economics and Peace says that nearly 18,000 people died from terrorist attacks in 2013. Stopping the destruction of terrorism requires more prevention and better intelligence about why individuals behave the way they do and how to ensure that we get ahead of terrorist thinking and activity to restrict the movements of individuals or cells, containing their actions. We also need prevention and mitigation strategies to minimize the chances that terrorism sets roots. That means encouraging civil societies, which takes money. But if we don’t spend it, we can’t mend it.

It is hard to know which nightmare — cancer or terrorism — will stop first. Both require immediate attention and resources. Both produce, in the end, a river of tears. Let’s commit ourselves to stopping these twin evils. As good people, we need to do better on both fronts.

Sonenshine is former under secretary of State for public diplomacy and public affairs and teaches at George Washington University.