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Saturday 3 November 2012

Are you sick of Movember yet?

Hey everyone!

OK, so I have a question for you?  Well if you read the title, I think maybe you might already have the question.

If not, read the title.  I mean really, you haven't scrolled down too far yet...  Odds are you can just look up.  Of course if your resolution is horrible, maybe I should just restate it.  Are you sick of Movember yet?

With 'staches this awesome?  I don't think so.
Before we go any further, let me be straight with you.  I am a full supporter of Movember, and will shamelessly plug my page:  (http://mobro.co/mrclaus)  Movember is a great cause.  For all you aren't aware, or just wonder why there's so many more hairy lips this month, I'll give you a brief explanation.  In the month of Movember, all participants in the 'Mo Movement' shave themselves clean on November 1st, and grow whatever they can on their upper lip for the month.  This is men's answer to the 'Pink Ribbon' campaign promoting awareness of breast cancer.  However, the 'Hair Ribbon' is to promote awareness of prostate cancer and men's health issues.  Now the more ambitious of the growers actively try and raise money as well.  I am ambitious.  That's why I'm hoping you'll click on my link and donate anything.  I'll take a nickle if you are willing.  Donations over $20 will get a tax receipt.  Larger donations will earn you my affections and favours.  That's right...  I have no problem whoring out my dignity out for this charity.  Simply make the request, and the proposed donation to me, and I will probably do it.  A good example of this is the now infamous blue moustache of 2011. Yep, it's on YouTube and my Facebook.  Search 'Blue Moustache' in YouTube, and you'll find my smilling visage:  Or just watch it here...

So for $40 dollars I was asked to mascara my mo for a day.  (As a dirty blonde my 'stache is a little hard to see in the beginning, or in the end for that matter.)  So after being mocked all month long, my friend Maggie at work and my sister offered a donation to dye it for the day.  And doubled it if I were to dye it blue.

One fine looking moustache!
So the blue moustache was born.  And I looked pretty fine if I do say so myself.  I don't have any requests yet this year...  But I am 100% open.  Leave me a comment, or message on my donation page.  Did I mention the address?  (http://mobro.co/mrclaus) But friends, I didn't ask you here to plug my efforts this year.  (Although please, please, please, donate.)  I came here on the premise to talk about people being sick of Movember.

Lately I've been hearing grumblings that Movember has lost it's meaning.  That now it's just a bunch of kids, growing moustaches because it's the thing to do, not because they want to raise awareness or money for the cause.  I guess that's pretty fair.  I kind of felt that way last year by the end as well.  When I started doing this 6 years ago no-one had really heard of it.  I had to explain to everyone why I all of the sudden looked like Freddie Mercury's chubbier cousin?  The next year, I got a few friends to join me.  The year after that, a few more...  but there were still holdouts telling me that they'd prefer NOT to look like pedophiles.  Thank you.
OK, so searching for a picture of pedophines in Google Images is grim.  Don't do it.


As we went, though more and more people joined in, and in fact record numbers of money are raised every year through the initiative as record people join in.  Having said that though as things become mainstream and commercialized, they lose their meaning.  People are doing it to be part of the crowd.  Cool factor is lost as people join.  To paraphrase Naomi Klien...  Once something hits the mall, it's not longer cool.  You can definetly buy 'Movember' t-shirts at the mall.

So if it's not cool and it's been over played....  Then people must be starting to get sick of it.  I've been hearing rumblings of it from several sources, and I understand.

You know who's not getting sick of it though?  Victims of cancer.  Anything we can do to help them is worth it.  Even if only 1% of the people are actively raising money.

This year I took it a step further...  I shaved my head for the cause, because I wanted to show this was about more than growing a Mo to join the crowd.  A lot of people who get prostrate cancer lose their hair.  I could too.  A small price to pay to get people to realize this isn't just a bunch of douche bags getting together to annoy women with scratchy kisses for a month.  This isn't about fitting in with the crowd.  This is about helping those who need it, and stamping out a disease which will kill 1 in 36 men.  After I shaved my head and posted it on Facebook, I got this comment...



You know?  I'm not sick of Movember after all.

Please donate:  mobro.co/mrclaus