[ Jon Benson writes some of the coolest fitness stuff on the Internet, so I know you'll love this recent article from him… ]
Cancer sucks.
Think that’s a naughty thing to say?
Consider this:
I was speaking at a conference last week when I glanced out into the audience. I saw a muscular dude with a t-shirt that said, in huge letters no-less…
“F – – K CANCER.”
There were NO dashes in his version… that was added by me for your sake.
I mentioned from the stage that I loved his shirt. Sure, it was profane, but I hate cancer so much I didn’t care.
Afterwards we struck up a friendship. He was an Aussie rugby player and one super-nice guy. We hit the gym together and managed to come to agreement on the fact that American football is superior. (A bit of levity in an otherwise somber article never hurts, right?)
What perfect timing… his t-shirt, that is.
This week, it is ALL happening.
An unreal number of fitness professionals, including myself, are donating their time and energies into whacking this thing called cancer into submission.
We have put together some incredible gifts for you just for helping us out.
Go see what’s up…
http://www.fitprosagainstcancer.org/ <— go here by ALL means!
Notice the “.org” … that’s because this is 100% for charity. Not one dime is kept. Proceeds all go to the American Cancer Society.
My good friend Scott Colby started this fundraiser when his uncle was battling for his life with the “C-word”… a battle, I’m sad to say, he lost last week. Our thoughts are with him.
But his fight was not in vain. His fight spurred this movement and my contribution, however silly or meaningless it may in fact be.
So here we go:
I have discovered the CURE for cancer.
CURE as in C.U.R.E.
“C” is the most important.
“C” is for CASH.
If we spent 1/10th of the money we spend on war and started dumping CASH into cancer rather than crude oil into the Gulf, we’d cure cancer in about as much time as it took me to write this article.
That was overly optimistic… but who cares. It’s the point that counts.
Let me lay it on the line for you… and if I lose subscribers for this, too freakin’ bad.
Right now Americans spend billions of dollars on pure junk food… and you Brits are not that far behind. British kids are gaining fat at nearly twice the rate of American kids, and our children are among the most obese in the history of HISTORY.
Fat kids usually, but not always, means fat parents… or lazy parents. Or both.
Again, shoot me. It’s the brutal truth.
Why does this matter?
It matters because the math, unlike the seriousness of this problem, is crystal clear. Americans alone spend $25 more per month on food than they need, and this was from a study done in 2009. The recent data is not even out yet.
$25 more than is necessary to sustain and nourish the bodies and minds of every member of a household of four.
And that $25 is spent entirely on junk food.
Note that this does not take into account eating out, something the average family does at least four times per week.
Let’s just be conservative and say we only waste $25 per family of four on food we do not need. Fair?
The population of The United States is a tad over 300,000,000.
Divide that by four.
That’s 75,000,000.
To be fair, this is not a perfect equation. I’ll deduct a reasonable percent from our total for a fudge (pun) factor.
Let’s run with 50,000,000. Nice, round, nifty number.
Multiply that by $25.
Total: $1,250,000,000 dollars.
PER MONTH.
Folks, that’s $15 BILLION dollars per year that could, in a perfect world, go to fight cancer. Or AIDS. Or education…
But let’s stick to cancer.
Want to know what we currently spend on cancer?
No, you really don’t. It’s not even close to that.
Now for the real sticker shock: Due to cancer-related illness, medical costs, insurance premiums, and loss of labor, cancer costs us $150 BILLION per year in economic loss.
QUICK: Name one company who is led by a human with a single brain cell who would NOT spend $15 billion to save $150 billion.
I’ll wait…
That’s what I thought.
Yep, the cure for cancer starts with CASH.
You can donate some here:
http://www.fitprosagainstcancer.org/ <— go here by ALL means!
Let’s continue on…
“U” = UNDERSTANDING.
You have to understand your enemy in order to win a war.
Do me a favor: Go into a public place.
Look around.
One person in five that you see will die from cancer, and that’s if they’re lucky. The updated numbers are more like 1.3 in five, given our dietary and environmental decline.
If there was a terrorist threat that was announced on the news that threatened the lives about 50,000,000 Americans, how seriously would you take it?
Good. Now we understand the serious nature of this, one of nature’s most efficient and vile terrorists.
“R” = RESEARCH.
Cash alone is not going to cut it. Cash has to be funneled directly into research and not into some bureaucrat’s back pocket. The only way this is going to happen is when every single one of us gets pissed off enough to complain about it.
Remember, we still hold the power of the vote.
Vote smart, then stay on their ass… make them follow through.
Make your donation mean something by helping to ensure the organizations you donate follow through.
Finally…
“E” is for EMPATHY.
Empathy and sympathy are cousins, but they’re really not the kissing kind. One is visceral; the other emotional. To truly empathize with someone is a gift if you yourself do not have the problem or challenge the other is facing.
If you’re a victim, empathy comes easy.
For guys like me, one who has never truly faced this demon from the 7th Circle of Hell called “cancer”, empathy is difficult.
But I’m learning.
Really.
So can you.
I’m asking for your help today, but I’m giving you something valuable in return.
Please go see what we’ve done to make empathy a lot easier…
www.fitprosagainstcancer.org/ <— go here by ALL means!
My thoughts are with each of you who have struggled with this disease and/or lost loved ones to it.
My dreams are firmly fixed on a CURE within my lifetime.
And by CURE I mean the real thing… not just a pithy little acronym scribbled by a fitness author while listening to Guns-n-Roses a bit too loud.
I jest… GnR can never be too loud.
Let’s get to the cure, folks.
http://www.fitprosagainstcancer.org/ <— go here by ALL means!
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