Friends,

The Schar Cancer Center Institute is housed in the former corporate headquarters of Exxon Mobile, and the building very much looks like it was a former corporate headquarters. The grounds, architecture, much of the art and character of the place feels more corporate than medical. This is not meant to be a negative judgment at all. There are unique advantages to this medical complex versus INOVA Fairfax, which is right across the street. INOVA Fairfax is nearly impossible to navigate, while Schar was built all at one time. Though it’s purpose is now different, it is significantly easier to get around, and just feels more intentional than other hospitals that were added to gradually over the course of decades. With that being said, when I first went there it felt a little soulless. For some reason I really hate the fake waterfall that is by the front door. I just don’t like things that are made to look like things they are not, like the oil candles that look like wax candles for the altar. I like the fact that Carol takes such good care of our wax candles. It’s messy, but feels real.

The first time I went to Schar was to get my COVID vaccine back when those first became available. There were hundreds of people there lined up to get into an auxiliary building across the lot from the main center, and the lot of us wearing masks slowly made our way through the vaccine machine, and got the shot we had been waiting for for so long. I remember it was cold and that fake waterfall was turned off, which made me hate it even more. I noticed the cancer signs and proton therapy signs and wondered what that entailed.

Two years and three months after that I first visit, I returned with my wife so we could get her official cancer diagnosis. We cried with relief when we received it, because it meant her prognosis was remarkably good. Now, I write this while I am waiting for her to finish her last step in treatment at Fairfax Hospital, before we enter into “maintenance mode”. This is a big step, but I imagine our morale in a few days is going to be great.

A dear friend offered to come eat lunch with me while I wait at the hospital. I couldn’t resist the temptation to go across the street to see the stupid waterfall on our way to the food court at Schar. During chemo on the 9th floor I would find ways of going to the new food court without using the elevator as a sort of game for myself and a way to get in some steps. The stairwell is just past the elevator bank to the left if you are coming from the infusion center. You go down eight flights of stairs to the second floor, which is the floor you use if you want to go from area to area. When you get out of the stairwell you take a right and walk a long ways until you see the bridge to the right. You go across, walk down the fancy looking stairs and boom, you see the big new fancy food court that was once a large vacant room that was used to administer COVID vaccines when those first became available. The food is by far the best hospital food I’ve ever had.

I made my friend take this walk with me, and I expected her to feel something profound, but it was clear she did not, but she could tell that I was sharing something special. If you set out to build a Church, you try to make it look like a Church. You can’t force something to be sacred, but you can make it look like a place worthy of the prayer that will instill it with it’s sanctity. Then you have places like INOVA Fairfax that were built with a sacred purpose in mind, but the style is largely utilitarian. The space is undoubtedly hallowed ground, but it doesn’t look like it. Schar is a bit different, because it was built for a completely different purpose, and in my mind, is a tremendously emotional and sacred place. It was made for secular dealings and increasing profits. It was made to reflect the power and influence the organization wielded, and now that is where people receive life altering news, get life saving treatments, or go to try to get a few more years with their loved ones.

A tremendous amount of effort went into re-purposing the building, and I am glad they kept that stupid waterfall by the entrance. It serves no purpose other than to look pretty and show the world that someone could have afford to put it on the side of their building. The utilitarian nature of hospitals could have motivated some to remove it, but they held onto it. Hospitals don’t need to reflect their importance or try to look special. If you need to be there you already know they are important and special. Here we have a unique case where style matches reality. The architecture is meant to project power and importance, and it oddly but profoundly compliments it’s current purpose.

I can’t help but remember the first time I went to Schar for that vaccine. I felt nothing other than the excitement to receive my vaccine. The ground did not feel hallowed, even though it was. Do not forget that the rock that Jacob rested his head on was just a rock. It was completely void of meaning and sanctity. It was just a rock. Then Jacob dreamt of the ladder ascending into heaven while rest on the rock, then all of a sudden it changed, and Jacob built an altar upon the rock. I wonder if anyone tread over it the day before without another thought in mind. I’m sure the rock didn’t mind, and neither did God. Things can change, and when they change they change in ways we cannot imagine. That rock became something special, that corporate headquarters is saving lives in ways never conceived of by the designer, and every day we are treading over rocks that might one day be sacred. So, just be aware. Not afraid. Not excited. Just aware, that you might be walking on sacred ground unaware.

Blessings,

Nick