People are stupid....
...and judgemental, and hypocritical, and mean, and selfish and......
*deep breath*
Ok, before I continue ranting, I will explain what's got me so fired up.
I was on my way into work this morning and I happened to hear a story, out of Vancouver, that touched me (and no jokes when you hear the story). A group of exotic dancers put on a fund-raiser for breast cancer in honor of one of the girls that lost her life to this disease. Exotic Dancers for Cancer hold this annual event, and raise thousands of dollars. I thought that was amazing until I heard that the Breast Cancer Society sent them an email TURNING THE DOWN THE DONATION.
WTF?????
The reason? Some of the funds major donors aren't comfortable with the stigma attached to the occupation of the donors, DESPITE having accepted their funds in the past.
WELLLLL, EXCUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSE ME. I didn't realize that the major donors had already come up with a cure for this disease that kills thousands of women every year. I didn't realize that they had so much money that they could afford to turn down thousands of dollars that were raised with the intention of aiding in finding a cure so that more mothers, sisters, daughters, aren't taken away from their loved ones.
OOOOOOOOOHHHHH - it's stupidity like this that makes me want to go out and just scream at the world. So the money is donated by strippers - BIG FUCKING DEAL. Not all strippers are crack whores, or prostitutes. My parents owned a strip club for over ten years and the dancers there were single mothers trying to support their families because their ex's were deadbeat dads, or students trying to pay for their education, or girls with day jobs who just needed some extra cash to make ends meet. Sure, there were drugs, and yes, some of them did go further with the customers than they legally should have. BUT, for the most part these were funny, sweet, intelligent women who had ambition, and pride.
To turn down money from ANY source is to pronounce a death sentence on finding a cure for this awful killer. I lost my sister in law to breast cancer almost four years ago. To hear that people are trying to make a difference, but are being turned away causes hatred to rise in my chest and my heart. Are the major donors to the cause without sin? Are they perfect? Probably not. They are probably people who have tons of money and are donating to assuage their own guilt over something awful THEY'VE done in the past.
Here are some facts about Breast Cancer from www.cbcf.org
FACTS ABOUT BREAST CANCER IN CANADA*
- Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian women.
- In 2006, over 22,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 5,300 will die of it.
- Breast cancer survivors represent 1% of the female population.
- 1 in 9 women is expected to develop breast cancer during her lifetime. One in 27 will die of it.
- An estimated 160 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 45 will die of it.
- In 2006, new breast cancer diagnoses will slightly double the number of lung cancer diagnoses among Canadian women.
These facts aren't up to date (seeing as how we are now in 2007), but they don't have to be. There is still no cure, and people are still dying.
I hope that they can live with that on their conscience.
Stay sane inside insanity - and never forget your towel.
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