Reflections on Life and Giving - St. Baldrick's

By: Gus Victoria

Life is beautiful. It is worth living. It is worth fighting for. Our struggles vary from person to person and from day to day. No one’s obstacles to health and happiness are to be discarded offhand, but sometimes we lose focus in our everyday lives as to what is truly important. Hitting a string of red lights and almost being late for work, though annoying, cannot compare to the moment when you are told you or a loved one has cancer.

Whoa, that escalated quickly! Gus, we know the differences between daily annoyances and life changing challenges!

Do we though? How deeply ingrained is this knowledge? How many times a day do we get angry that so many of our resources are frivolously spent on things meant for ease, leisure, or worse, for creative destruction?!

I am not blameless in this twisted perspective. We are not inherently bad more than we are inherently good. We have will and a heart and mind to help us exert that will. Our tangible resources may be limited, but love never is nor is the hope that springs eternal from it. As the soapbox is brought forward I sidestep it and digress to share with you something that helped me last year get closer to a balance. I of course make this disclaimer that though it changed my perspective and helped me see beyond myself it also showed me how far I am from reaching that potential for action through affection. It was as if last year a door was opened into a far larger room I had never entered cluttered about with so much terrible refuse, but knowing as I stared at the heaps of dangerous things that small as I may be, alone as I may be I had the power to start to clear up a tiny fraction of it. The only thing limiting me then is what limits me still, the thought, simple, deceptive and dangerous; “what does it matter. I’m just one person. What can I possibly do to change things.”

Last year I was invited to join an event to help raise funds for a charity to benefit children’s cancer research. Having decided earlier in the year that I would become more involved with such groups it was the perfect opportunity to make good on that inner promise.  And thus began my relationship with St. Baldrick’s.

St. Baldrick’s is an organization that raises funds throughout the year to benefit children’s cancer research.  One notable way that they do this is through events such as the one I joined where men and women can volunteer to have their heads shaved. This is to show those brave young souls battling cancer that bald is beautiful, that bald is a sign of strength and not an ugly thing. In that solidarity they give me more than I could possibly give them back, but that is where we go back to that big room and we pick up bit by bit, doing what we can. We ask them to fight and we must not be awed by their courage and determination into stunned inaction, but let that be what drives us to do more. 

A funny mid-shave picture from last year's event. 

The work we can do to help need not be Herculean to begin. A simple donation here and there can help. Joining an event and spreading the word can help. Words and prayers always are welcome. The work placed before us in this struggle to control and eradicate children’s cancer is noble but enormous and not one of us can do it alone. Together we must work toward this ultimate goal doing what we can and not allowing ourselves to give in to the discouraging thought that what we do is not enough and therefore should not be done. You have a spare dollar? Donate it. You have 5? Put them to work. You have a few minutes? Spread the word. You have an evening open? Join and attend an event. I promise you that at the end of the day you will feel better, more connected, and with a new perspective that I hope instills in you a hunger to do even more; never outside your capabilities, but always stretching them further than you thought possible. These children do that every day, why can’t we on occasion as well?

Here are some links related to this years event:

The event this year is March 14! So let's raise as much as we can between now and then. I will be shaving my head!

Click here to donate through my page on St. Baldrick's site

This is the general event page. You can donate here as well!

And this video from St. Baldricks: