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"Were it so easy."
- The Arbiter, Halo 3
Above is a quote I carry with me everywhere. It comes from Halo 3, and it's one of the most quietly powerful lines in the game.
The scene is at the start of the game. Sergeant Johnson, knowing that Master Chief and the Arbiter have a long, violent history as enemies, looks at the two of them and says he doesn't want them killing each other. The Arbiter, calm and measured, responds: "Were it so easy."
It's a line that works on two levels at once. On the surface, the Arbiter is acknowledging his own power, the implication being that killing Master Chief would not be easy for him, even now. But at the same time, he's saying the same thing in reverse: were it so easy for Master Chief to kill him. It's a moment of mutual respect between two people who used to be enemies, delivered in four words that carry years of weight.
I've borrowed that line, and I use it to mean something different. Were it so easy to cure cancer. Were it so easy to stop it from taking the people we love. Were it so easy to sit across from a diagnosis and walk away unchanged. It isn't easy. It has never been easy. Which is exactly the point.
My family has been touched by cancer more times than any family should be. My Nanny Jan was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998 and died in 2001. My Grandad Bryan was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2013 and died in 2017. And in 2022, my Dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer, a fight he is still in the middle of right now.
Halo 3's tagline was "Finish the Fight." For Master Chief, that fight had an ending: a final level, a last boss. The fight against cancer doesn't work that way. There's no final mission, not yet. There are people working every single day to get us closer to one. That's what Cancer Research UK is doing. And that's what every donation goes toward.
Every stream I go live, every video I upload, is part of that effort. It's my way of finishing the fight, or at least pushing toward the finish line. If you've watched, subscribed, donated, or even just shared something I've made, you're part of it too.