WOULD YOU STEP INTO THE BREAST....I MEAN THE BREACH?

2/04/12

OK, forgive the title.  But I know you have been following the whole Susan G. Komen/Planned Parenthood controversy.  So tell me, would you forgive them?  Would you pretend it never happened?

Well, no matter your answer, let’s think about all of this for a minute.  There are many who have said that “charity” or “medical care” should not be political.  Come on.  Really?  It is often political.  In the US, public health care is a political football.  And indeed, many charities are not secular in nature.  Let’s face it, there are catholic charities, jewish charities, African American, Hispanic, all sorts of charities that are belief driven (not to be confused with mission driven).  So, up to this point in time, SGK has been very explicit about their mission (basically to eradicate breast cancer), but has not been so explicit about their beliefs.  That is, until a couple of days ago.  They, defacto, declared their belief to be Pro-Life.  Now, I saw the founder of SGK, Nancy Brinker, on television the day before the “switchback”, and let me tell you, the level of rationalization and soft-speak rivaled the slickest most unprincipled politico.  Even after a defacto declaration, she was unwilling to own it.

I am not going to weigh in on the issue of Pro-Life/Pro-Choice, because that isn’t the point here.  What I see here is the leadership of a very substantial charity with a very laudable mission who lack principle.  Had they come out and said, as a Board, we do not support abortion and therefore cannot support Planned Parenthood, I may or may not be aligned with them, but I would have respected their principles.  But what did they do?  They double-spoke, and ultimately caved, not because of a change of belief, but because of money.  They were losing support (and therefore money) at an alarming rate, and they lacked the principle to stand up for their values, and lacked the principle to accept the consequences.

And therefore, no matter your view; whether you agree or disagree with their beliefs, this is not an organization worth supporting.  And I’m not saying that we shouldn’t support the cause.  We should just make sure that we support the cause through other charitable organizations.

And remember, there is a lesson here for all of us as individuals:  Wear your beliefs on your sleeve.  Celebrate them.  Accept the consequences of those beliefs and earn the respect of everyone.

 (see “A Million and One Ways to be One-in-a-Million”; Chapter 2 – The Gift,  Chapter 3 – Luke….Use the Force; Chapter 8 – You Always Have Choices)