The undergraduate student society in Carleton University has recently voted to terminate a school-wide fundraiser called Shinerama, an event where participants shine shoes, cars, etc., for other people to raise funds for the inherited and fatal disease cystic fibrosis. Leaders of the student government said that the cancellation is due to their belief that cystic fibrosis is a disease that “only affects white men” and is not “inclusive” enough as a cause that the student body should be supporting.
Before writing further, I must first state that this is very personal to me. I have two friends who are cystic fibrosis (CF) victims, and know another girl who has CF. I have not met these friends for a long time, but one of them was in palliative care years ago, so I assume she is no longer with us. She was a dear friend when I was in university, and as a showing of support for her and my other friend with CF, I was a Shinerama participant, even an executive one year to help raise funds for this cause.
Factually, these students are just flat out WRONG. Cystic fibrosis is an inherited disease that is caused by a problem with chromosome-7. Since that chromosome is not a sex-chromosome, its occurrence among males and females are roughly the same. In my little world, all three people whom I know that were CF victims were female. And while the defective CF gene is found more commonly in the Caucasian population, it can be found in other ethnic groups as well – the third person I know who has CF is an East Indian, and I have read about this disease in Hong Kong as well.
But CUSA’s problem goes beyond the ignorance. It is this very foolish thinking of political correctness that is causing them this gaffe. Even if CF is a disease that only strikes white men, does it make the cause any less worthy? We often hear pleas from dying people asking people to have their blood tested for a possible bone marrow donation – is that plea too exclusive (after all, it is for ONE person) that no one should support it?
The great poet John Donne said it very well back in the seventeenth century in his poem “For Who the Bell Tolls” - No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main… any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee."
An advice for CUSA: if you want to be truly inclusive, first, let’s try not to exclude even one person.
For more info, please check out the following links:
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2008/11/27/210808.aspx
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2008/11/26/210757.aspx
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081126.WBSteele20081126130438/WBStory/WBSteele
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