Randomness

Just a bunch of random thoughts this morning.

• I find it very sad that Steve Jobs died yesterday. He had pancreatic cancer for 8 years - which is a very long time. Pancreatic is nasty and usually the prognosis is much shorter. It bothers me that he died, not because of who is was, but because yet another person died due to cancer and that he was so young - only 56. But if you look at the quality of his life in recent years, it is impressive. Yes he must have had his ups and downs but he did not retire until August - only two months ago - so he must have not let cancer run his life. That in itself is an impressive feat.
  
• Am I the only person who thinks automatically of cancer when someone is sick? I sometimes think I am too quick to think cancer for everything but am not sure I will ever not be able to think something is cancer. This is true both for myself and for other people.
  
• Yesterday I met a friend of my parents. She apparently has cancer of some kind but wont talk about it or discuss it. I don't see anything wrong with this, as long as she is caring for it which I think she is because she was on her way home from an oncology appointment. It may seem that she is ignoring it or denying it but if I think about it, I think it may be her way of coping and not discussing it to death. Its no one else's business but her own as to what ailment she has and how her health is going.
  
• All of this pinkification is driving me crazy. A friend of mine sent me an article (without a link so I can't post it here) that states:
  
  "But behind the goodwill and good deeds is an estimated $6 billion-a-year marketing juggernaut that has gotten so big and diffuse, some fear it's become impossible for many to know where their charitable contributions are going, or if that pink-ribboned item will help fight breast cancer at all.
  
  Moreover, some breast cancer fighters say the pink-tinted campaign is a sanitized, feel-good distraction from the realities of a potentially deadly disease — one that will result in nearly a quarter-million new cases of invasive breast cancer in the United States this year." 
  
  It goes on to add that:
  
  "Gayle Sulik, author of "Pink Ribbon Blues," a critique of the breast cancer awareness industry, called the estimated $6 billion spent annually on breast cancer-related events an eye-opener, considering that the National Cancer Institute's entire annual budget is a little more than $5 billion. "
  
  I find that a real eye opener and an indication that the pinkwashing should end and we should just give the money to breast cancer research instead of buying all the pink crap.
 

That's enough thinking for today. Now I have to get ready for work.