Thursday, September 27, 2012

Local Relay Leaders Attend Leadership Summit

 Article published in the September 27, 2012 issue of The Mena Star

Relay Cheerleaders

The American Cancer Society held the Mid-South Division Relay For Life Leadership Summit September 21st and 22nd at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Arkansas.  Four members of the Relay For Life of Polk County committee attended the Summit; Richie and Regina Lawry, Crystal Mos, and Debbie Welch.  The purpose of the Summit was to inspire hope, courage, and determination in the fight to eliminate cancer. If there is one word that defines Relay For Life it is "hope".

The Relay For Life Leadership Summit welcomed over 1,200 volunteers from Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky.  The theme of the Summit was Dream Big - Hope Big - Relay Big.  Cancer is a BIG foe.  To defeat it we are going to have to Dream BIG, Hope BIG and Relay BIG.  In 2011, Arkansas held 71 Relay For Life events with 1,534 teams and 2,990 cancer survivors participating. Arkansas Relayers are looking for bigger things in 2013.

Relay For Life represents the hope that those lost to cancer will never be forgotten, that those who face cancer will be supported, and that one day cancer will be eliminated.  Relay For Life is more than just a fundraiser. It’s a life-changing experience. At Relay, every person in the community has a chance to celebrate, remember, and fight back. And every person who participates joins others around the globe as part of this worldwide movement to end cancer.

The Relay For Life of Polk County attendees came back determined to dream big, hope big and Relay big.  If you would like to be a part of something big, call Regina Lawry at 479-234-1608.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Relay For Life Leadership Summit

 Hope

Recently my wife and I attended the 2012 Relay For Life Leadership Summit held at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee.  The purpose of the Summit is to inspire hope, courage and determination in the fight to eliminate cancer. If there is one word that defines Relay For Life it is "hope". 

It is inspiring to spend time with hundreds of volunteers whose main objective is to provide hope for the all too many people who are affected by cancer. In a world that sometimes seems consumed with distrust and hatred of people who are different in race, religion or political beliefs, it filled me with hope to see a group of people who are so willing to give of their money and time to benefit others and to give them hope. 

 Relay Summit 2

Relay For Life represents the hope that those lost to cancer will never be forgotten, that those who face cancer will be supported, and that one day cancer will be eliminated.  Relay For Life is more than just a fundraiser. It’s a life-changing experience. At Relay, every person in the community has a chance to celebrate, remember, and fight back. And every person who participates joins others around the globe as part of this worldwide movement to end cancer.


 Relay For Life Leadership Summit

The theme of the Summit was Dream Big - Hope Big - Relay Big.  Cancer is a BIG foe.  To defeat it we are going to have to Dream BIG, Hope BIG and Relay BIG.  In 2011, Arkansas held 71 Relay For Life events with 1,534 teams and 2,990 cancer survivors participating.  As awesome as that was 2013 needs to be really BIG.

 Polk County Relayers

Although the Summit was thought provoking and inspiring, it was also a lot of fun. Friday evening we were to dress Big.  It was fun seeing all of these serious hard working volunteers having such a good time.  There was even an Arkansas hayseed there.

Doofus

My wife is an American Cancer Society Hero of HopeHeros are cancer survivors and caregivers whose work exemplifies the mission of the American Cancer Society.  They speak wherever they are invited to tell their story of how cancer has affected their life.  These Heroes of Hope enjoyed spending a few moments together.

 Heroes of Hope

We had a great time and left inspired to have an even BIGGER and BETTER Relay For Life event in Polk County in 2013.

If you aren't involved in Relay For Life find an event happening near you by clicking on this link.  There are over 5,200 Relays in the United States. 

 My Heroes

Arkansas Relayers


 Relay Summit 19

Relay Cheerleaders

Saving Lives In Every Community

Relay Big

 Hope 2



Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Lights of Hope

Yesterday evening my wife and I drove to Little Rock to attend the 3rd Annual Lights of Hope held on the Capitol steps to urge Arkansas' Legislature to make cancer a priority.  It was a beautiful day with perfect temperatures for the event.  The event was hosted by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network


ACS CAN is the nation’s leading cancer advocacy organization that is working every day to make cancer issues a national priority.  Many of the most important decisions about cancer are made outside of your doctor’s office. Instead, they are made by your state legislature, in Congress and in the White House.

ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, is holding lawmakers accountable for their words and their actions. They ask that our leaders not only talk about fighting cancer but take real steps toward decreasing the number of people suffering and dying from cancer.

My wife was the keynote speaker at the Lights of Hope event.  She is an American Cancer Society Hero of Hope.  In her speech she told the story of her mothers struggle with cancer.  Even though her mother's cancer was terminal, she agreed to be a part of a bone marrow study that was funded by the American Cancer Society.  My wife and her family tried to talk her out of it knowing how painful it would be, but she said, "you never know who you might help".  She lost her battle with cancer in 1976.  20 years later a bone marrow transplant, made possible by that research from 1976, saved my wife's sister's life.  During this past year my wife's cousin was diagnosed with Leukemia and was told that without a bone marrow transplant his life expectancy was just three months.  After a successful bone marrow transplant his cancer is now in remission.  My wife's mother was willing to take part in research because it might help a complete stranger not knowing that it would end up saving the lives of family that she loved.  Research that is being conducted today will save many lives in the future.

You can see her speech from the Lights of Hope event here.

 Luminaria lined the walkway to the Capital. We walked along the walkway and found the luminaria for my wife's mother and sister. Seeing the luminaria there reminded us of why we are involved in the fight against cancer.

Luminaria 3
Cancer seems to touch everyone. We all have family members or friends who have battled cancer. Some have won and some have lost, but because of the efforts of so many volunteers there are more winners every year. That is why I am so proud of my wife's involvement with the American Cancer Society, and why I am involved. 1 out of every 100 Americans participates in the American Cancer Society's premier event, Relay For Life. If you are not one of them won't you consider becoming involved. Click on the link below to find a Relay For Life event in your area. There are more that 5,000 Relay's across the USA. Find a Relay For Life in your area.

 Lights of Hope Lights of Hope 3 Luminaria 2

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Political Rants

There are two things that I have promised myself I would not do on this blog.  One is posting things of a political nature, and the second is reposting other peoples work, but today I am making an exception.  I don't know the original source but I think that the message is important to think about in this election season.
Dear Friends, Family, and Anyone Else I Know;
As we all know, there is a rather major election happening this year. I know, no matter how loud or quiet you are, you probably (definitely) have opinions. You probably lean more toward one political party than the other, more toward one candidate than the other, more toward one side than the other, just as I do. You have strongly held beliefs about certain issues, just as I do. One of the great things about living in this country is our ability–and right–to hold and VOTE our political conscience, for the things and people we believe in.

That being said.

As the election gets nearer, and the tempers get shorter, and the mud gets fling-ier, I want you to remember some things, please:

When you post on Facebook that someone is “Too stupid to breathe…” if they vote for X candidate–you could be talking about me.

When you write in your email that someone who votes for Y candidate is “UnAmerican”–you could be talking about me.

When you say that someone who believes that Z candidate has better policies should “be taken out back and shot”–you could be talking about me.

When you say that you hope everyone who votes for XYZ candidate “is rounded up” before the election–you could be talking about ME.

When you say/post/share ugly words, thoughts or pictures about people on the other side to support your political position–you could be talking about ME.

About ME, or someone like me that you know. Not just a random “them.” But someone you like, or love. Someone you may have known your whole life. Someone you may think is intelligent, articulate, well-spoken. Someone you may think is caring, kind, giving.

There is a PERSON behind the things you are saying. When you say that all liberals, or all conservatives…when you say that all Democrats or all Republicans…when you say that ALL of any group is/says/does/thinks/behaves/believes/hates/loves/etc., you are saying that about real people. Honest to goodness, flesh and blood people. Not just ideologies. Not just platforms. Not just issues. Not just politicians. Your friends. Your family. Your neighbors. Your coworkers.

Please, by all means, believe what you believe. Vote the way you want to vote. Engage in civil discussion about issues and platforms, if you want to. Advocate strongly for why you think what you think. Use reason to explain your position. These things? These make us better citizens, make us a better part of the political process. But when you start throwing those ugly words out, when you start sharing those ugly graphics, and those hateful quotes, and you point your finger at “THOSE PEOPLE” just remember…you could be talking about me. Someone you know. Someone you call friend, family, coworker.

And maybe that doesn’t matter to you. Maybe it doesn’t matter that you’re saying I’m stupid, unAmerican, deserve to be kicked out of the country, deserve to die, don’t have any compassion, don’t care about my fellow citizens, or am a moron. Maybe it doesn’t bother you because you believe SO strongly that ALL people who believe opposite of you are SO wrong that you’re willing to forget the people behind those beliefs, that they are more than just their political opinions, more than just where they fall on an issue or what candidate they want to vote for.

But to me it does. Because when this political season is over, and the races have been decided, the non-stop political nonsense will die back down to a low boil. But you and I? We’ll still know each other. And I’ll know what you really think…of me.

Monday, September 17, 2012

How Big is Big?


When people think of big numbers it is interesting the things that are used as symbols of big numbers.  Matthew 10:30 in the Bible says, “but the very hairs of your head are all numbered”.  So how big a number is the very hairs of your head.  According to the Harvard university website Bionumbers, the number of hairs on a human head range from 90,000 to 150,000.  Interestingly the number of hairs is different for different hair colors.  Blondes have 150,000 hairs, people with brown hair have 110,000 hairs, those with black hair have 100,000 hairs and redheads have just 90,000 hairs.

 Other symbols of a big number in the Bible are found in Genesis 22:17, “I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore”.  First let’s look at sand which is on the seashore.  Science writer David Blatner, in his new book Spectrums, says a group of researchers at the University of Hawaii, being well-versed in all things beachy, tried to calculate the number of grains of sand.  They said, if you assume a grain of sand has an average size and you calculate how many grains are in a teaspoon and then multiply by all the beaches and deserts in the world, the Earth has roughly, and we're speaking very roughly here, 7.5 x 10 to the 18th  grains of sand, or seven quintillion, five quadrillion grains. That's a lot of grains of sand.

What about the stars of the heavens?  To get an idea of how many stars are in the universe, let’s look at a photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope called The Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Astronomers picked a seemingly empty spot in the sky. Staring at the spot in the sky for ten days, Hubble kept taking pictures one after another for the entire exposure time, accumulating data. Astronomers put the exposures together into one final picture. Each time they added an exposure, the view got deeper, revealing fainter objects. When they were done they had the deepest picture ever taken of the heavens.

The image is of a small region in the constellation Ursa Major. It covers an area 2.5 arc minutes across, one part in a million of the whole sky. The image contains an estimated 10,000 galaxies. That would mean that the whole universe contains a million times 10,000 galaxies. Astronomers estimate that our home galaxy, the Milky Way, contains around 400 billion stars. How many stars are in the universe?  10,000 million times 400 billion or 4 times 10 to the 21st.  So that makes stars the champion of big numbers, right?  Yes, the number of stars in the heavens is "an unbelievably large number, but you will find the same number of molecules in just ten drops of water.   If you took 10 drops of water (not extra-big drops, just regular drops) and counted the number of H2O molecules in those drops, you'd get a number equal to all the stars in the universe.

This is amazing to me. For some reason, when someone says million, billion or trillion, I see an enormous pile of something, great sweeps of desert sand, twirling masses of stars. Big things come from lots of stuff; little things from less stuff. That seems intuitive.  But that's wrong. Little things, if they're really little, can pile up just like big things.  So next time I look up at the sky at all those stars, I will be impressed, of course, by the great numbers that are out there. But I will remind myself that at the other end of the scale, in the nooks and crannies of the physical world, in the teeniest of places, there are equally vast numbers of teenier things.