…a young woman in the Cincinnati area played in a college basketball game.

But not just any game.

You see, she had an inoperable brain tumor, and it was touch-and-go as to whether she’d see 2015. But thanks to her school, the planned opponent, another local school, and the NCAA, her dream came true.

And it didn’t end there. She played in three more games before her condition made it impossible for her to keep playing. This past April, she lost her battle, but not until she had raised more than $1 million for research on the cancer that would end her life. And her legacy lives on, as the two local schools have teamed up for an annual season-opening event that will bear her name.

Over the past year, I couldn’t help but contrast the story of Lauren Hill to a couple of others that made the news.

The day before Hill’s first game, Brittany Maynard, who was also suffering from a terminal brain tumor, chose to end her life, as she had announced several months earlier, with most of the MSM cheering her for her “courage”.

And then there was Bruce (Caitlyn) Jenner, whose story has been covered ad nauseam over the last few months. Most tellingly, when it came time for ESPN to announce the 2015 recipient of its Arthur Ashe Courage Award (handed out at the ESPY Awards ceremony in July), it went with Jenner—to considerable criticism, with Bob Costas (no conservative himself) calling the announcement “a crass exploitation play.” Hill’s first game did receive the consolation prize of the “Best Moment” award at the ESPYs.

Courage? Lauren Hill, in her current state, has more courage in her little finger than Maynard or Jenner has ever had or will ever have. Unlike Maynard, she kept fighting and kept active until she couldn’t go on any longer, and she and her family left it up to God when she’d go. (I don’t know Hill’s religious affiliation, but she did go to a Catholic college.) Unlike Jenner, she didn’t seek to change the hand she’d been dealt in life, and in fact embraced it.

Call me politically incorrect, insensitive, transphobic, whatever… i don’t care. This is my opinion, and I’m sticking with it. PERIOD.

Note: The tagline for this post may read November 3, but it’s still November 2 where Amir and I hang our hats.