The holidays are often a break from the usual stresses our lives, as we fond new thing to stress about: Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas present lists, "use or lose" vacation time, the evacuation of immediate family members who end up living in your basement due to mandatory hurricane evacuations (hi mom), and facial hair.
Yes, I said facial hair.
For the last two years, I have participated in Movember, a ritual where men grow creepy moustaches (referred to as a "Mo" by those in the cause) in an attempt to raise general awareness for men's health (the social issue, not the magazine).
Each year, I am faced with the same question: what kind of moustache to grow? Last year, I went with an abbreviated handlebar Mo. Nothing too biker-ish, but just enough of a curve around the mouth to show that it was intentional.
It didn't end well.
I ended up looking like an out-of-work Russian spy. I also didn't do a very good job of raising awareness, but that was also before I started this blog!
Part of the problem is also that I'm not as much of an activist as I used to be.
This is a bit ironic, since I used to live in Boulder, Colorado and now live in Washington, DC. By all accounts, I should have grown from a petty tree-hugger to a full-blown lobbyist by now! Still, there aren't too many causes for which I go out of my way. Movember is one of the few.
I'm sure part of the reason is because the event allows me to skirt social mores, and grow a Mo that would be way too creepy for my office at any other time of year. The camaraderie is also a perk, as I have many Mo Bros around me to commiserate with, as we all progress from the scratchy, pathetic phase, to the full-on awkward phase, and finally on to the fully-groomed Amber Alert phase. All of us except Ben, that is (sorry, bro).
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| Got a little Movember in you? |
The unfortunate part of Movember, besides the fact that I decided to grow a Captain Morgan Mo this year (see right), is that I need your help to make a difference this year.
I've committed to grow this monstrosity on my face for the month of November. My hope is that by changing my appearance, I can raise awareness for men’s health, and use that awareness to raise funds for important prostate and testicular cancer initiatives.
Please help me out by making a donation. The size of the donation isn’t important, every little bit helps Movember continue its funding of world-class programs.
Here's why I've chosen this cause as worthy of sacrificing my dashing good-looks for an entire month:
- 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime
- This year 242,000 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed
- This year 8,290 men will be diagnosed with testicular cancer
If you’d like to help change these statistics, please donate online at: http://mobro.co/LeeRobbins
For more details, take a look at the Programs We Fund section on the Movember website.
Thanks in advance for supporting my efforts to change the face of men's health.
TTFN,
-Lee
