Story-A-Day #384: Movember

MOVEMBER

There are many who do it as an excuse to look ridiculous.  They are missing the point.  Movember isn't meant to be about growing a mustache, it is meant to be about raising awareness, and funds, for prostate cancer.

Sure there is something fun about growing facial hair.  It gives you a month to feel like someone different.  It gives you a month to not have to worry about having a perfect shave for work each and every morning.  I used to set out to sculpt the most ridiculous 'stache I could into my month's worth of growth.  This year, I decided for a more simplified approach.  I decided to go the classic route instead of the ridiculous.

This year, I had another reason for growing a mustache though.  This year, I knew someone who had been through the very illness I was aiming to raise awareness of through facial hair growth.  I don`t know him well, but I know him well enough to know that he is a strong, intelligent, and dedicated man.  He is strong enough to have beat his cancer, intelligent enough to radiate wisdom and dedicated to not just his family and his career, but his entire city.

On its own, that would be enough.  When it comes to this particular individual though, there is even more to it.  He is a survivor.

I mentioned that he is not someone that I knew well, but that is not entirely true.  He is someone who I grew to know well enough over a very short period of time.  I learned to appreciate his quick wit, open friendliness, and fierce intelligence during that time.  I grew to know what he stood for, what was important to him, and what he believed in.

Much of what he believed in centred on his family.  He has worked hard to become the man he is, the leader, the father, the husband.

Everyone needs a reason to support the cause.  Mine happens to be the Deputy Mayor of North Bay and the father of a good friend.  That is why I grew a moustache this year.  To raise awareness and support so that more people like Peter might live to survive.  We need survivors in this world, people of character and strength.

We need more people like Peter.