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Sun screen Is More Important Than You Think
Jeff Davis | Vent Section Manager

I would like to tell you about a small pet peeve that I have always had. It concerns being outside in the summer, or any other time of the year for that matter. When I am outside my skin gets exposed to all sorts of rays and dust and what-not. The most dangerous are obviously the UV rays from the sun. I apply sun screen whenever I am outside for a long period of time. For some reason, there are people who cannot understand it. Here’s why.

In June of 1995, my Uncle Dwight succumbed to melanoma skin cancer. He was 46. He left behind his younger brother (my father), two elderly parents, a niece and a nephew, countless friends, a business, and a nine-year-old son. I will tell you right now: if Dwight had the luxury of sun screen when he was younger, he might have read this article, which would have had a considerably different tone.

Why is it unmanly to put on sun screen? Please, someone tell me. Sunburns are painful, in case you leathery-looking people have not noticed. How does it feel when that hot shower water hits you? Real good, right? WRONG. The peeling skin? It could have been prevented if you had used sun screen in generous amounts. Slather that stuff on. It may feel bad, but you won’t be in pain.

I am saddened when I am chastised by peers for my application of sun screen. Am I somehow lessening my manhood by wanting to be a pasty-white wimp? If so, then I am moving to Canada.

I tell you this: I am putting that stuff on no matter what anyone else thinks. It may make me feel like a walking slice of pizza but I have a lot less of a chance of getting cancer that way. No one gives me crap for wearing sunglasses. Why should sun screen be any different? It’s that good ol’ American double standard. God’s Country indeed.

One must have his/her health as a primary concern. Safety is so important. We aren’t invincible. Some even say that there is no set time when we are going to die, we choose our fates. The choices we make determine where we will be further on down the road. My decision to wear sun screen may seem trivial, but not wearing it decades ago tore my family apart.

Responses:
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Name: Someone with a lot of relatives with skin cancer
Year: soph
Comments:
You know one way they remove skin cancer lesions from your body? They burn it off with liquid nitrogen. Now think about it...a little sunscreen now, or pain, scabs, and scars later. You decide.

Name: Jenn
Comments:
I saw on TV a story about why people think they have to have tanned skin. It's a long story, but up untill Coco Channel took a vacation somewhere and came back with a tan the upper class society thought being outdoors a lot was only for the working class. Tanned skin was a sign that you were a part of the working class and when Coco had her tan everyone wanted to follow her and have golden brown skin, but a lot of us today still think that a tan makes us look better even though it will give us wrinkles and possibly cancer when we get a little older.

Comments:
I'd take a pale woman over a tan woman any day of the week. It's just my preference.

Name: mel
Year: freshman
Major: MSTD
Comments:
POWER TO THE WHITE PEOPLE.. getting burnt sucks, and i'm glad someone else agrees that sometiems it is a little better to be white than to destroy my skin... !!!!

Comments:
You forgot something too PeeRless, what about helping those beautiful women put their cocoa butter scented sunscreen on? Someone has to help them rub it onto their backs heheheh :-)

Name: PeeRless
Comments:
Jeff, you're forgetting one of the best features sun screen has to offer. Ever been to the beach and seen all of the beautiful women smelling of fine cocoa butter? MMMmmmm.... There's nothing like that in the world.

Name: Jenn
Comments:
My uncle also had problems from getting sun burned too much when he was young. One part of his skin was so damaged from sunburns over the years that they had to remove healthy skin from another part of his body to replace the sun-damaged skin. Luckily we didn't lose him to skin cancer, but it still makes you think about lathering up next time you're at the beach.

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