November is an important month for many reasons, one of the biggest being that it’s Movember! The month long event continues to gain popularity and show its importance. So do you know what Movember is? For the uninformed, Movember started as a simple competition between 30 friends in Australia who wanted to see if they could each grow a moustache over the course of the month of November. The competition caught on and more and more members began joining in the subsequent years. The idea came to some of the participants that some real good could come out of this silly bet. Participants began accepting sponsored donations all going towards funding men’s medical research. The event got bigger and bigger, expanding to several countries and raising millions. To date, Movember is officially held in 21 countries, has nearly 5 million participants, and has raised over $650 million in Canada alone.
If you have yet to join the Movember movement, this is the year to do it. Movember is very important for all men and boomers maybe most of all. Yet too many look at Movember as a silly, inconsequential competition for the younger generation. Certainly Movember is meant to be fun (nothing wrong with that), but it’s also an important movement dealing with a very serious issue; men’s health. But first, let’s look at some of the more fun reasons to become a Movember participant:
- It’s a fun bonding activity between men– Again, even though the movement deals with a serious subject, it doesn’t mean Movember can’t be a lot of fun. Use it as an excuse to talk with old friends, share it with loved ones, and make it an office activity. If nothing more, you can enjoy ridiculing your friends and loved ones failed attempts at facial hair.
- Good ol’ competition– Men love some friendly competition and that is very much at the heart of Movember. Take a break from the hockey pool and try this out instead. Form a Movember team and see who can raise the most money. Beyond that, there’s always the competition for best mustache and you’re fully encouraged to come up with some inventive ideas for the month-ending award ceremony.
- An excuse to grow a mustache– Every man wonders what he would look like with a mustache. Movember gives you a yearly excuse to find out!
But the real importance of Movember is awareness. Did you know that there are more annual deaths due to prostate cancer than there are due to breast cancer? The female community has done an amazing job opening the discussion of breast cancer, and it’s time men have learned a lesson from them. Movember offers men a chance to have a dialogue about men’s health issues, such as prostate cancer and testicular cancer. That’s the real power of this movement; bring something to light that is rarely discussed. So don’t dismiss this as a silly bet between youngsters. Movember is for men everywhere and it’s time you joined in!
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