"STOP ME...?"
Now, this is about as awesome as it gets for fundraising! This marathon, The 26.2 with Donna (a women who beat breast cancer twice and is about to start treatment for lung cancer), gives 100% of race entry fees to support breast cancer research at the Mayo Clinic. One hundred percent. Jacksonville Beach, eh? February, eh? Hmm... I think I need to consider this one very seriously. Hmm...
Jeff Galloway, running guru I totally listen to, recommends it, and even recommends buying a bib (that's the piece of paper with your runner number on it that you clip to yourself for you non-runners out there) if you can't make it down there to run just to support.
Also, don't forget to click for free and fund mammography to women in need and to give to my fundraising efforts for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event on the 21st if you can. I only need a bit more to reach the goal!
Now, let's talk. This morning, I got an anonymous comment here on Bigmouth that instead of publishing to my comments section, I thought I would plop it out front and center for everyone to enjoy. Anonymous writes (By the way, not leaving your name immediately strips you of so much credibility in my book.):
"Amy: no offense, but we're all a little tired of the breast cancer links you're doing. Are you seriously going to do this for the rest of the month? I like your blog but it's pretty lame right now with breast cancer shit being pushed on us. I don't know anyone with it, you wrote about a near-miss but you don't have it so drop it, will you? no offense. it's just annoying and seems like a you're wasting your time with the hassle of it all."
Really nice fucking attitude, huh? Readers of Bigmouth, Anonymous seems pretty confident about speaking for you. Anyone care to comment? I'm formulating my answer and will post it there shortly.
12 comments:
Anonymous, I feel sorry for you, I really do. It must be miserable to walk around all the time not giving a shit about any suffering in the world around you. It's probably pretty easy, though, only worrying about yourself and all. You're so concerned with your own comfort level that you can't possibly be compassionate towards anyone. I'm sorry, does talking about breast cancer make you uncomfortable? Does it? Because I'll bet you everything I own that it's pretty uncomfortable to actually have breast cancer. Probably more than just talking about it, anyway. But, you probably don't care about that. As you pointed out, you don't know anyone with it, so why should you care?
Of course, it would be pointless to tell you that cancer is everyone's problem, or that it doesn't matter if you don't know anyone with breast cancer (even though, statistically speaking, you probably do and may not even realize it) , or to point out that it doesn't matter if it isn't your wife/girlfriend/mother/sister/friend/daughter who had or has breast cancer because everyone who has or had breast cancer is someone's wife/girlfriend/mother/sister/friend/daughter and that ought to be enough for you, but I forget you don't care about that sort of thing.
And, to tell you the truth, it would be easier to just blog like I normally do. Sure it would. But, the "hassle" of finding worthy links every day and passing the hat to everyone for donations here and there is the least I can do. How maybe people, do you suppose, would trade this "hassle" for the "hassle" of, you know, having cancer? Also, it's fine to have your opinion, however unproductive it might be, but try not to assume all my readers agree with you.
The point is, it doesn't hurt anyone or cost anything to be nice. So what if it's a little extra effort? There's no cap on doing good things in the world. Maybe you see it as wasted effort, and maybe it is. But, in my book, it's far better to make a positive gesture than a negative one, even if the positive gesture is useless.
As for my "near miss", do you think the only reason a person would care about a cause is if s/he personally was affected by it? If you do, I really, really feel sorry for you. Because if that is the case, you just really don't get it at all.
Who doesn't wanna "Save the TaTas!"?
I am disgusted and outraged by what Anonymous said. You have a complete and total lack of regard for humanity. You must be a republican.
Try to imagine what it would be like to find a lump somewhere on your body. You go to your doctor. The doctor can't rule out cancer by examination. He or she has to run a battery of invasive tests. The results take days or weeks. You spend every waking minute consumed with fear. You try to put it out of your mind. You hope for the best, but you just don’t know. You can’t stop yourself from what if’ing yourself into a frenzy. Finally the day has arrived when you’re going to get your test results. You’re so emotionally drained at this point, you don’t know where to throw yourself. Your doctor FINALLY SAYS You don't have cancer. The enormity of what you've been through gives you license to exhale and causes you to burst into tears of joy and relief. After a few hours of thanking God for this tremendous gift, your body aches and hurts for those men, women and children who won’t be so lucky. Your heart burns for them, for their families and for their friends. As for you, well, you’re forever changed because of it. How could you not be?
You’re lucky you haven’t been through it. Devastating as this is to say, you will one day. It might not be you, it could be someone you love, someone you can’t imagine your life without. What will you do then? Will you tell them to just build a bridge and get over it? How will you find the compassion and the empathy to stand beside them every step of the way?
How can you not want to make a contribution to cancer research to end the suffering of millions battling cancer? How can you not want to change the outcome for them and for the person you love if they do get cancer? How can the daily reminders in every medium not make you feel any desire to man up or woman up and be a part of the solution, not the problem?
How can you be so cruel and dismissive to Amy and to so many brave human beings fighting for their lives every single day? How can you not care on any level whatsoever? What happened to you that made you so evil, so hurtful and so vile?
I hope you change. You need to change. I don’t say that to people, but I’m saying it to you and I mean it. You need to evolve. You need to step into the human race, not tomorrow, today.
My only comment (not complaint mind you! definitely not in anonymous's camp!!) is that I want to make sure everyone who reads this remembers all cancers all year round.
You have chosen breast cancer as your cause, which is awesome! But I wish we could go...uh...some color (no crude jokes please!) for colon cancer, another for lung, another for thyroid, another for leukemia/lymphoma...etc etc etc.
But here's hoping if we cure one we figure out how to cure the rest. :-)
I keep trying to comment, but there isn't much to add that Amy & Jewgirl haven't already said.
Oy!
You don't like it, come back in November. You hate it so much, don't come back.
Meh. It's her blog, Anonymous, she writes what is interesting to her and important to her. We come back because we share interests and issues.
If you want to read someone without a conscience, someone without empathy, someone who is not smart enough to be pro-active, someone who lives without passion, then I don't know what you are doing here in the first place.
'Sparkypoo' do you really think she doesn't remember cancer all year? You should have seen how many names were written on the back of her shirt during the marathon I ran with her. She remembers, don't think she doesn't.
Aw, John, thanks. I appreciate you saying that.
Halden! Er, H., I mean. How've you been??
I just find it confusing and sad that anyone would feel compelled to leave a comment like that in the first place. Clearly, a blog is a place for self-expression, a forum for expounding on topics that are important to the blogger. And breast cancer? I don't know any woman who hasn't had the fear of it constantly lurking in her head, some more, some less depending on family history and experience.
And to hide behind "anonymous" is chickenshit.
I read your post and my running partner and I have signed up. Then I saw something about it in a completely unrelated place. I feel like the universe is trying to tell my to get busy! Hope to see you in FLA in February!
h., I never said she doesn't. I e-mailed Amy privately to explain what I meant. It's more a complaint against the fund raising efforts for breast cancer vs. those for other types of cancer. I never meant to implicate Amy personally.
I'm late on this, but its Amy's blog, Amy writes what she wants, anon can run along and read elsewhere.uh-huh please.
In a place with no insurance (which is where I'm writing from) cancer can completely destroy entire families. Kaput.
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