There is something wrong with all of us.
For many, sporting a pink ribbon is "doing their part" in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Others will sell cookies to help defray the cost of cancer treatment for their teacher. Football teams will wear pink gloves. Others will enter a Walk for the Cure event. Everyone has their own little way of "doing their part" during Breast Cancer Awareness Month and come November, it will all be gone.
Those of us who have experienced this terrible disease through their mom or sister or friend will continue to do their part until the end. They have no choice. The end of October is not the end of their cancer. It is just another day in a constant fight to stay alive and to hopefully get well. For some the end is the end of the disease. For others it is much worse.
No one understands how terrible this disease is until they experience it first hand. For some unknown reason, God created this God awful disease that leaves you scarred for the rest of your life with images of your loved one fighting for their life. In the end they die a shell of the person you loved. Their body is ravaged by the disease, the chemo, the radiation, and the multi-colored pills. You will forever remember the look of their face when they know this would be the last time they will say "I'll see you tomorrow".
It is a moment you will never ever forget.
We are a sick nation. Come November what do we do as a nation? A nation that claims to be "compassionate" and based upon "christian" values? What do we do besides pack up the pink ribbons for next year so we can do our part again in 11 months? We as a nation can do more. A lot more.
We spend almost $800 Billion on our military, more than the entire world combined. We pay for over 170 military bases around the world. We spend billions on safeguarding the thousands of nuclear warheads in our possession, enough power to leave the Earth a radioactive wasteland. We have no problem spending $1 Trillion invading other countries, but we only spend $800 Million on breast cancer research.
We can do better. American should cut our military spending by $100 Billion and funnel that money into cancer research. Instead of killing people we would be saving people. Instead of creating low tech jobs with the intent to kill people, we would create high paying jobs focused on killing this disease, saving lives, and advancing research into science. It is a win-win for everyone.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month runs through the month of October. Hopefully for you and your family it ends on the 31st.
2 comments:
How did you arrive at the figure of $100 billion, and how many years do you think would be required to cure breast cancer at that rate?
I think you should read the following article and perhaps rethink what you just wrote.
http://www.prwatch.org/node/9523
Other cancers are more deadly!
Furthermore, if you consider this a horrible thing to live with, then think about epilepsy too. Just as many people die of epilepsy a year as breast cancer. Epileptics are highly discriminated against in society (getting a job, transportation, etc) Yet epilepsy awareness, and donation is pitiful. Researchers estimate that every person with epilepsy sees 35 dollars a year of donation. That doesn't cover even a months worth of medication.
True Christians won't jump on this bandwagon of consumerism. If someone wishes to donate to breast cancer they should just donate, not buy products
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