Male Perspective/ Boomer Humor
By: Michael C. Waters
By: Madison Frederick
A Worthy Cause Life for a teenager…Most would worry about what to wear to school, or about something on Twitter or Facebook. It seems as if they would never have the occasion to worry about anything else, right? Surely they wouldn’t have to worry about cancer. Let me take a moment to tell you about Justin. Justin is your typical teenager. He loves baseball, video games, family, hanging out with his friends, and many other things that most teenagers care about. His baseball team has won the state title in back-to-back years in 2010 and 2011. This young man has hundreds of friends and has a great family. You would think there would be nothing that could get in his way… Nothing at all, right? Now let me tell you why Justin is NOT your typical teenager. Back in July, Justin was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, a cancer that affects the white blood cells in bone marrow. He was forced to go into the University of New Mexico Hospital for chemotherapy treatments for this disease, treatment which often leaves Justin exhausted and nauseated. He has endured surgery to elevate his platelet count. He is in a fight for his life, unlike most teenagers his age. Now let me tell you about Justin’s support structure. His family and friends are constantly by his bedside. His baseball team traveled many miles to the hospital he is in, just to spend time with him and to deliver his state championship ring. The booster club for his team has setup an account at a local bank to allow for donations to help offset the cost of his treatment. His high school football team has hosted a car wash benefitting Justin. Wristbands are being sold to help raise funds. T-Shirts are on order to be sold as well. His family has setup a care page on Facebook called “Prayers For Justin”, which have dozens of posts each day giving him inspiration to get well. He has received visits from area celebrities. Even the local Chili’s restaurant has donated a portion of their earnings to the family. Justin’s mom and I were in High School together, which is my connection. His grandparents still live here in the Boone area. While praying, wellwishing, and other things do wonders, I felt the need to do more. I am trying to spread the word about Justin’s story. I have entered in the “Dozen Doughnut Dash”, a run sponsored by The University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Proceeds of course will go to the cancer center, but I am raising additional sponsorship money for Justin and his family through a page I set up on Facebook. The run consists of 4 miles total, but there is a catch…After running for 2.5 miles, each competitor must eat a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and then attempt to run an additional 1.5 miles to the finish. I am accepting lump sum donations, dollars per mile, or any other contributions for Justin’s family. I have even added a category for those who think I will/will not get sick to my stomach! It should be fun to watch, and will most definitely be agony for me. But after seeing how strong Justin is, how strong his family is, this will be a walk in the park. I only wish I could do more. When I think of those battling illness, I can only really think of one person for inspiration…Jim Valvano, former North Carolina State head basketball coach, who lost his battle with cancer in 1993. Coach Valvano once said “Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul. Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.” For more information on how to contribute, please contact me directly via the email address listed at the bottom of my article. Please make checks payable to the Justin Solomon Donation Account. Keep fighting Justin. You are not alone! For more info: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Prayers-for-Justin/228001227239480 http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=239639302737265 Email: waters03@skybest.com
18 | September 2011 | www.banglemagazine.com
Greetings, Dear Readers. Aren’t the cool breezes of September a welcome change? The crisp September air brings to mind school days and I mean school days at every level—kindergarten through college and including graduate school! At each level, first day anxiety and excitement is experienced. The classes ahead represent a fresh page in your life. Remember the classmate who always wore his/her new fall sweater on the first day of school, regardless of the temperature? Now that is anticipation of fall! Nonetheless, wearing the right costume for the performance is always important. So backto-school shopping remains an important task in preparing for the year (even if it is more online today!). It’s been said that we, Boomers, are life-long learners. We love to attend classes on everything from birthing (remember those trail-blazing childbirth classes?) to “How to Get the Most from Your Retirement”? This Boomer trait probably began when staying in school meant avoiding time in Viet Nam for many of us. Yes, the draft is now an ancient concept. Now staying in classes for us means staying young, continuing to grow, and avoiding Old Age! Our school memories are so different than the school memories of our kids today. School was the hub of our social as well as our intellectual life. Home schooling? What is that? Not in our era. It wasn’t even used as an excuse to satisfy the truancy officer. Forget the internet. School was the only social network we had with the possible exception of Sunday school classes or Youth Group. And no cell phones!!! I actually had a thirty minute limit on my phone calls due to my father’s need to be on call for his work. Imagine schools with no need for security again. I don’t remember having any during my school days, do you? Our global connectedness on the World Wide Web has also made our children more vulnerable and less secure than we were. Instant access to information helps our kids compete in today’s world; but it also increases risk and parental worries. Speaking of parents, we can still learn lessons from ours (although many of them are not with us now). We can learn the importance of saving a portion of our money. (That is ALL I am going to say about our current economy and its failures.) Our parents understood the concept of deferred gratification. Many were willing and patient enough to save up for a desired item. And if they had to buy on credit, their credit was a precious commodity to them—one that they did not want to abuse. It may not have been called recycling, but that is definitely what they practiced. Think about those beautiful and practical handkerchiefs many of them used. No throw away tissues for them. Use a nice soft handkerchief that could be washed and used again. Coffee cups. Now we are carrying our own and reusing them, much like our parents’ generation who seldom used paper tableware. And grocery bags….now we are training ourselves to use reusable bags again. It’s no longer, “Paper or plastic?” We are realizing that we do not live in a throwaway world. Hmmmnnnn… We’d better get registered for some classes on sustainability. We have a lot to learn! MF