The Next Celebrity Trend

I really think the next celebrity trend should be cancer.  Right now it's babies, but that's on the way out.  Pretty soon, they're going to need some other accessory to flaunt and get people excited about.  Why not a Louis Vuitton IV bag?  Come on, it'll be fun.

Obviously, if you have been reading my words here on the interwebs, I don't want anyone to have cancer, ever.  But, like everything else, cancer is about image.  Cancer still has such a negative stigma attached to it, though I admit that it's getting better.  I'm sure that when my grandfather died of cancer, back in the days of June Cleaver and twin beds in the master bedroom, people didn't even whisper about it in sewing circles.  And I'm guessing there were actual sewing circles in those days, too, because I've never stumbled onto one in my lifetime, and I'm more than a little disappointed about that.  If you know someone who operates or has ever operated a sewing circle, I would like their information.

Imagine, for a second, that a Kardashian had cancer.  It might take roughly five minutes to wipe that shit out. Except maybe for the fat one (I don't know who the fat one might be, because none of them are fat [maybe after this cancer thing is done with I'll start working on body image awareness]).  And I do say "done with," because it's something that can be done.  I would think that somewhere within the next twenty years we'll have all of the major cancers cured.  A lot of new-ish cancer treatments are going a long way toward meeting this goal, and personally I'm most excited about immunotherapy (using the body's own immune system to fight their cancer) and viral oncology (engineering viruses to attack and destroy cancer cells).

Even though I don't think the next celebrity trend should be cancer, it could absolutely be cancer awareness. The problems we face in this life are solely a matter of resources.  We live in a bizarre world where it costs money to solve issues that are already in everyone's best interest to solve.  Call me an idealist, but I believe there are many things more important than money.  In fact, money is paper.  And gold is a rock.  If only it had a pair of scissors, the economy could play a drinking game.

However, in this life, in this dimension, in this reality, we have to fit ourselves into a mold and play ball.  If we like something here, we have to put up our rocks and papers in order for it to come to fruition.  As well as other resources, like time and creativity.  In my opinion, getting to the point where no human being is ever diagnosed with cancer again is its own reward.  So my resources are not logged, and I don't pay attention to how my personal economics are affected by cancer awareness, micro or macro or velcro.  My hope is that through education and general pestering, we can recruit more people to feel that way -- that their resources are well used by making sure people don't suffer.

Human beings are a tricky lot, and educating them to care about issues that don't personally affect them is a battle in itself.  Most people don't care about things they've never been exposed to or had to deal with individually.  Of course there are several arguments as to why cancer does actually affect us all, and we'll keep these in mind, while also keeping in mind the complicated theories on human motivation.  I'm the first to admit my guilt.  I didn't give a shit about cancer before I was diagnosed.  My own failings motivate me to make amends for my pre-terminal illness perspective.  There were many names I passed over, in the midst of their sorrow and silent pleas for help, many names who could have used a phone call, or a visit, or a kind word, and I did nothing but briefly feel sorry for them, and scroll on down the Facebook feed.  If I remembered those names now, I'd apologize to each and every one of them.  Of course for some, it's much too late.