John McCain may be a controversial figure, and has certainly made his fair share of blunders over the course of his life, but at the same time, the man is a badass. In Vietnam, McCain broke both arms and a leg when his plane was shot down, nearly drowned in a lake, and was bayoneted by North Vietnamese soldiers. And that was before he got captured. After he got captured, he was offered an early release because his father was a high-ranking admiral, but McCain refused unless everybody who arrived before him got released first. He ended up spending five years as a prisoner, during which he was tortured by his captors, yet refused to reveal any information.
Fast-forward more than 40 years later, McCain remains a fighter. Even after he was diagnosed with brain cancer last month, he’s kept a positive attitude and overall joy of life, encouraging those around him to do the same. If anything, he’s got a history of surviving, and his mother is still alive today at age 105. He recently released a video on Facebook thanking those who have supported him, and even those who refused to do so. “Even those who want me to die don’t want me to die right away”, he said jokingly.
Without doubt it’s a tragedy to see McCain, a man who has been fighting his entire life, end his life like this, against something like brain cancer. Yet the truth of the matter is that McCain certainly isn’t dead yet. If I were bayoneted, had most of my limbs broken, and spent five years being regularly tortured, I don’t know if I would survive, but McCain, did, and he’s prospered ever since. Unfortunately, the tail-end of his career has seen its fair share of low points. In 2008, he lost the race to the Presidency to Barack Obama, many people believe to his choice of a running mate. And last month, his thumbs-down vote on the Senate’s healthcare bill meant that Trump’s new bill will have to once again wait, which has met with the ire of his fellow Republicans. Nonetheless, it’s time to think of the great work that John McCain has done.