At first, I thought this was a dumb question. But as I went about my day, I started to think about it a little more and decided maybe it wasn’t so dumb after all.
I’ve had the pleasure of having both of these little “gifts” so I figure I can give one man’s opinion.
Let’s make an objective comparison for my case. (Your mileage may vary)
Cold – not so bad, won’t kill you, but it makes you miserable. I can’t breathe through my nose, food tastes terrible, I can’t sleep well, I’m tired during the day, I can’t enjoy kissing , and I can easily spread this to others I know. Life would be depressing.
Cancer (prostate) – Thanks to the PSA test it is diagnosed early. So early I didn’t even know I had it. All parts work, I can exercise, sleep, enjoy the beautiful day, all systems feel normal. The treatment and recovery was awful for a short time but after that, for the most part, I feel like I did before. Great. On the down side, statistically speaking, there is an 8% chance that I might have a recurrence in 15 years.. That number gets lower the longer I go without having one. I don’t worry about it at all. If it happens, I’ll get it fixed. I’m a Lucky Guy.
I’ll take cancer. (YMMV)
An interesting spin on this would be a third choice: cold, cancer, or 100 pounds overweight that can’t be lost.)
I’ll still take cancer.