Cancer is a quiet, creeping threat from within.
It's a thing this world could do without. It takes from us our friends, our neighbors and our families. If it's not breast cancer, it's cancer of the skin, lung, blood, pancreas, prostate, colon, throat or any other vital thing.
Too many people are taken too early by this too terrible disease.
It's as if that cloaked skeleton has gotten scythe-happy.
There's no cancer awareness movement more broad than that for breast cancer. Thousands of runs, walks, picnics, banquets, fundraisers and other events are held every year to raise money for the cause or to just raise awareness of the most prevalent cancer in women. It's a wonderful thing that our nation has embraced this cause.
Early treatment often leads to recovery. Women who catch the cancer early have a much better chance of saving themselves.
We've come a long way from the time when we discouraged women from ever talking about their breasts. Diseases went untreated and women lost their lives to a preventable illness for the sake of propriety.
Today, though, it's tough to find a person that doesn't know someone who had or has breast cancer. There are a lot of people out there who raise funds for their grandmother, sister, mother or daughter.
Breast cancer awareness is capable of moving a sizeable amount of money.
The movement has developed into a unique fashion and cultural statement. There are T-shirts, wristbands, clubs, books, speeches, shoes, bumper stickers, organizations, lobbyists and a host of other channels through which the breast cancer awareness message and its finances can flow.
One thing breast cancer awareness groups particularly excel at is putting the faces with the cause. The survivors and those currently suffering are given special nametags and, generally, a part in the ceremonies. This is a somber reminder of the multitudes breast cancer affects.
Why not include, along with the faces of those who struggle with breast cancer, the results of the hard work of those involved in the awareness campaign? Show us the money donated, the treatments developed, the medicines created and the lives saved.
Show the people who put forth so much what they need to see: their labor is paying off.
But there are, sadly, those who suffer from other cancers not so easily found or diagnosed. No amount of awareness or self-screening is going to prevent their diseases from coming full-force.
The only answer for them is treatment--lengthy, painful, expensive treatment.
We have the opportunity to use the power of pink to benefit the lives of others suffering from their own cancers by generating at least a part of the finances.
We feel that the force behind the breast cancer awareness movment can be effectively and righteously used to benefit the victims of other cancers who deal with the costs of treatment.
We at The Plainsman recognize that those with breast cancer in no way have it easy. Cancer is cancer, and it's always a tough road, but that's our point--everyone who has this disease is suffering terribly.
What we would like to see is an open invitation to organizations that support victims of other cancers to join in October's numerous awareness events and have them be a part of the movement. Breast cancer is an awful thing in the same way that all cancer is awful.
All cancer must be fought on all fronts. A fight against breast cancer should be a fight against every other sort as well.
Using the giant umbrella of the breast cancer awareness movement, greater progress can be made for the effort of curing all cancers.
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