to Mo, or not to Mo, that is the question

I figure that in the last few days in October, there's many of you guys reading this who are probably thinking "should I do Movember this year?", let me drop some knowledge on you, so that the next time someone asks if you're doing Movember and you say no, and follow it up with something along the lines of "it's just such big commitment". Let me assure you, it's not. It's nothing. Think about it this way...

Did you know that nearly 3,000 men die every year from prostate cancer? That's about the same amount of women that die from breast cancer, yet everyone seems so damn concerned about what appears to be the more fashionable cause of breast cancer that prostate cancer is often forgotten. In fact, in a 2002 survey, only 52% of men said that they felt that they were informed to a satisfactory level about prostate cancer. Given that 1 in 9 men will get prostate cancer, this is not nearly enough.

More than 18,000 men Australia wide are diagnosed with prostate cancer every single year. That's almost a 1 in 6 chance of dying. The rest will spend the majority of their lives in and out of doctors surgery, choosing between the course of treatment that will keep them alive as long as possible.

Or how about the fact that 1 in 6 men will suffer mental depression, but most of them won't actually seek help. Between 1988 and 2002, the suicide rate amongst men was 4 times that of women. Depression is an illness, not a weakness and men shouldn't feel ashamed to seek help. Yet studies show that yes, they do.

So, when you take that into consideration, I figure getting around with a funny looking moustache for a month isn't really that much to give up at all. It's events like this that are important to talk about and make known, or more importantly, do something about it. So I'm growing my Mo, raising some cash, talking about it with friends and family, and doing it all with a gigantic smile on my face.

Because I'm thinking that if I do my part now, they'll be able to help out my parts later.