What irks me is the fact that all over the world cancer survival is considered living beyond 5 years after diagnosis, and that people still hold out so much hope for a pill to deal with something so endemic, that impacts every physical and psychological level of the human condition. Do not misunderstand me, my position is that western medicine and cancer research are invaluable in the right circumstances. What I would say is that we've probably reached that point by now, especially with an affliction like cancer, so widespread and widely known. If I have a car accident, if I get blown up by a suicide bomber and need to be put back together, I'll be the one asking to be taken to the hospital, and for insurance dollars to help, but there is a limit to what these sorts of institutions can do. Ultimately my firm belief is that our own health is in our own hands. It involves choices (and yes, you do have a choice whether or not it's a hard one to make when it comes to what you put into your body and expose yourself to). Education, less carcinogens in your food and your environment and lots of love and laughter are never even talked about in any serious way. Western medicine except for a few enlightened practitioners at the very top remains helpless...hopeless, and we think throwing more dollars at the research looking for drugs is the solution?
Pills can relieve pain in someone who is days away form dying, and pills or drugs in the form of antibiotics can stem the onslaught of an infection in the short term, in a time of dire need - but people in their childhood, their teens, their 20s and 30s are going down with cancer. Stem cell research, quantum biology and areas where real progress can be made are still ignored or pooh-poohed by most of mainstream western society. The dollars go to big pharmaceutical studies from what I have read (correct me if I am wrong please!) - so that's really the issue for me. Where's the emphasis on prevention with all of the research going on? and the dollars going towards it?
Don't we all by now have some personal experience with this insidious disease? My aunt was a cancer survivor, and she just died in her sixties after her sister died a few years ago of a different form of cancer. Friends of my family have 'survived' cancer and more have been taken by the disease, or live with the knowledge that it might come back at any time. They live with what they were told: that cancer is irreversible, and that there's nothing you can do in your own life to mitigate it. Is that really the truth? Food Matters, The Gerson Institute, The Wellness Warrior and people like Anita Moorjani actually say otherwise.
Mothers and grandmothers, fathers and sons with everything to live for are subjecting themselves to the most horrific treatments mankind ever invented in the hopes of lasting another few months or years - with no guarantee of even that (doctors will admit that they are still CLUELESS in a lot of areas when it comes to cancer). At this point, when the dollars spent on cancer research number more than $200 BILLION per year worldwide, when as the research increases and intensifies the answers seem further and further away - and most treatments do more harm than good - can't we start to ask ourselves whether maybe, just maybe, there's enough money being spent on this type of research?Maybe there's a way we can all individually be more proactive about preventing and dealing with cancer in ways that don't involve using known carcinogens in the form of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery to make a bad situation utterly horrific? If the $200bn is being spent that way, well, then great! if not, then we need a new type of cancer research in my view.
I know that so many people do the fun runs, colour themselves in rainbows, bake sugary cancer causing treats and do all manner of things to hold out some glimmer of hope, and ease feelings of helplessness. Here's a thought though - what if we're not helpless at all? What if we're just seriously misinformed and under-educated about what we can all do today to prevent and mitigate the risks of cancer? hmmmn
Now that the ranty part of this post is over, I'll quickly add that no, I am not a great fan of the 'selfie' and what it says about participants in this #nomakeupselfie project. Please check out this great article on the subject by Clementine Ford, who I agree with for the most part (except where she also says that cancer research just needs 'serious dollars' and does not address the direction the research is going).
I also took this one makeup free selfie way back in January 2011 before selfies were even that much of a 'thing'. I also never wear makeup except for a rare occasion a couple of times a year, and I love my life that way.
If you want to see more makeup free selfies just friend me on facebook, or follow me on twitter (@kaliannagrace) ;)
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