It’s Movember again and time to raise awareness for men’s health issues. Last month we wore pink ribbons for breast cancer.
I find it strange: when I was a kid there were no colourful ribbons, nor were there people shaving or not shaving to make others pay attention to their cause.
Now I’m not knocking anyone who decides to put themselves or their adornments out there to attempt to raise money or simply let everyone know what they’re fighting for; far from it. In fact, it makes me feel bad that I don’t have the resources to help out everyone.
But that’s the thing. It’s because there are so many different causes that foundations have sprung up, that ribbons are being worn, etc. because every one of them wants to be noticed.
Were diseases just not talked about years ago? Was research played down? Or is it that horrible diseases are so prevalent now, disabling and killing off our populations that our governments can’t keep up with the demand, and so the public must find a way to pay for the fix themselves?
The logical, dispassionate side of me wonders if it is the earth’s way of depopulating and renewing itself. The paranoiac side of me wonders at the possibility that the governments have a hand in it… One way or another, it is natural selection – survival of the fittest.
But neither of these scenarios slow us down. We will always fight for what we believe in. Whether we are acting as survivalists or puppets, we can only do what we can to save those we love from the ravages of disease. I’ll be thinking of that, every time I see a ‘tache this month.
November 3, 2013 at 5:07 pm
Without a young girl in the USA donating bone marrow a young thirteen year old boy would be dead. A huge loss for us here. Only publicity would allow others to know about donation, and the possibility of saving others who wait.
The type of leukemia this boy had was untreatable ten years ago, research changed that. The type of virus he has struggled with for months was only identified a few years ago and treatment for it two years ago. Money put into cancer research was what brought both about.
Until it comes to your door it is hard to really appreciate the impact the money we give has on real lives.
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November 3, 2013 at 6:35 pm
It’s true. Just as there was research given to Heart and Stroke that allowed my son to beat 50/50 odds at the age of 2 months and come through open heart surgery. But even in my own family, do I give to them or to Autism research – my other son is severely autistic, and I KNOW he’s in there somewhere. A brilliant kid who can’t sort out his thoughts…
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November 3, 2013 at 6:45 pm
We have a lot to thank voluntary funding for. I personally have a few “pet” charities. MND which is what my Dad died of. Rehab because as a young nurse I saw what head injuries did. Sponsoring a girl in Vietnam. Cancer research and finally home nursing who came to the house to give chemo to my friends boy so he could stay home as much as possible. Something we are so happy about now that he has been in hospital for the past five months. We all have out own personal “favourites”.
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November 3, 2013 at 7:27 pm
All you need now is a moustache! haha
But seriously, there really isn’t any end to all we can give, and we’re lucky to have all this research going on. I do think though that the campaigns to get people’s attention are good for those who don’t have personal favourites already, and don’t have the need for them – otherwise, why bother to try to raise awareness?
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November 3, 2013 at 5:03 pm
Great questions to make us think. Movember allows my son to grow his mustache to look like a man of the 20’s as he worries for his future…his father having had prostate cancer. For years I had $$ taken off my pay for my current youth line where I work and whenever people call for $$, I just tell them the truth, I have put all my eggs in one basket. Now I split it up in 3 or 4 baskets. I try to keep change, loonies and toonies near my stick shift driving in town in case I get a a red light just after the Jacques Cartier bridge for panhandlers that rush about to collect a bit. And when I don’t have any $$, I just smile, and shrug…what else can one do? The guilt comes because you care and you are a compassionate person…that’s why you write so well!! 🙂
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November 3, 2013 at 6:28 pm
Thank you 🙂 It’s very hard to know where to spend the money you’re able to put aside for charity, but then… it never seems enough.
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November 3, 2013 at 8:02 pm
What IS important is not to feel guilty….you do the best you can, that’s all.
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November 3, 2013 at 8:05 pm
Right. 🙂
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November 3, 2013 at 3:06 pm
Organizations found out that marketing a disease brings in big money. One would hope the money eventually gets rid of the disease, but never a guarantee. Nice post.
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November 3, 2013 at 3:23 pm
I think that depends on who is running them. Some would say the cure for cancer is being hidden because the big pharma companies would go out of business. But I think that’s another post – not one I’m sure I want to touch. 😛
Thanks, John 🙂
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November 3, 2013 at 3:37 pm
I’ve thought that myself…but like you I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole.
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November 3, 2013 at 3:53 pm
Right. Scary.
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November 3, 2013 at 3:41 pm
Amen
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November 3, 2013 at 3:54 pm
And that put that idea to bed. 😉
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November 3, 2013 at 4:10 pm
AAmen. (sorry couldn’t help it)
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November 3, 2013 at 4:32 pm
🙂
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November 3, 2013 at 3:04 pm
I’ve never really thought about the color wearing and the effect they have on things. I wonder if this is new because it’s taking more money to get results or supplies are a lot more expensive.
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November 3, 2013 at 3:18 pm
The more I think of it, the more I think it’s kind of like the chicken and the egg. Is it that there is more disease so more people are screaming for cures? Or is it that there are so many people screaming that the pressure for faster research is bringing up the costs?
It’s a circle, but it’s not.
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November 3, 2013 at 3:27 pm
Good question. Something that worries me is that there are diseases we have cures for, but not everyone can get to them. So, this causes people to scream for another cure that they can afford or they might not think there is a cure. It’s all a mess to me. Should be: find disease, study disease, create cure for disease, and wipe out disease.
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November 3, 2013 at 3:30 pm
That only happens if it’s available to the entire world. Ask the people in Syria who are battling polio.
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