A Little Cultural Promotion

11-19-2017Weekly ReflectionFr. Brian Jazdzewski

Prostate cancer, testicular cancer, male depression and male suicide. These four topics and others similar to them typically do not conjure up happy thoughts. Add to the above list cancer in general, often cancer treatment causes hair loss, and you get a sense of the recipe for the rationale as to why some men choose to grow facial hair during November. Add to that, some encouragement on some websites to discontinue trimming other bodily hair, like legs, and you can quickly come up with gender inclusive reasons for unkempt body hair during November.

To be clear, there are at least two, almost world-wide, organizations, namely No-Shave November and Movember, which support, the above awareness. No-Shave November is a broader campaign to raise awareness for cancer related health issues. Movember, started in Australia around 2003 is more inclined to raise awareness for men's health issues. The similar purpose, other than raise awareness, is to encourage participants to donate money saved from not shaving to an organization which benefits research and cures for the particular health issues. Feel free to satisfy your curiosity by browsing the interweb to learn more about these or similar movements

As for my facial hair, my brother invited the male members of our family to participate on Movember, part of the reason being some family members, including my father, who are prostate cancer survivors. I'm typically not one to advertise outwardly some of the internal causes I support, but facial hair is rather difficult to hide. Also, after discovering the serious men's health issues, like those mentioned in the first paragraph, each of us needs to be mindful of the delicate nature of our health and well-being. So, rather than encouraging you to jump on the cultural promotion along with me, I just offer these brief remarks to explain my decision toparticipate in Movember 2017. Who knows, the whiskers may stay around for awhile…