Just Do It.

By Rebecca Ruehl

Washington County Relay For Life

Nike has had this slogan for years, “Just Do It.”

You know, get busy, get started, quit sitting around. Just GO.

It was on their shirts, their commercial. Anytime you saw the Nike swoop, you saw the slogan.

I’m sure the advertising agency that put that together is still cashing checks because people automatically think Nike when they hear it.

Here are some other company slogans. Can you guess which company they belong to?

• American by Birth. Rebel by Choice.

• Save Money. Live Better.

• Keeps going and going and going.

• The Happiest Place on Earth.

• When you care enough to send the very best.

• Melts in your mouth, not in your hands.

(Harley Davidson, Wal-Mart, Energizer, Disneyland, Hallmark and M&M’s.)

It’s easy to see how the slogans go with the companies.

I mean, everyone knows Disneyland is the Happiest Place on Earth, right? Or that if you want to Save Money. Live Better, you start at Wal-Mart.

Here at the American Cancer Society, a lot of emphasis is placed on its slogans. “Having cancer is hard. Finding help shouldn’t be.” “Imagine a world with more birthdays.” “I walk all night because cancer never sleeps.” Each of these is true. If you are having a problem with cancer, the last thing you need to struggle with is finding help. #2, who doesn’t want more birthdays? And #3, cancer, sadly, never sleeps.

Cancer is a big deal. It’s something that will cut right through you, cause people to lose their faith, divide families. With something this big, it takes a lot of research and a lot of money to overcome.

Teams big and small are starting to fundraise all over the country. Each is singularly focused on having the most successful fundraiser ever – because every dollar adds up to THE CURE.

Please, I beg you, open your wallets – and open them wide – every time you are asked to buy something. Now is not the time to be stingy with your money. A cure is seriously closer than it’s ever been for so many cancers.

So this week, #1 open your mind to supporting every.single.fundraiser that you come upon and #2, think about these slogans. Think about how they can support you when you’re busy planning fundraising events.

Let them be the little voice you hear when you want to turn around and go the other way because you just can’t think of anything to say to “her”, you know, the one who has lost her hair to chemo.

Please, Just Do It. Keep going and going and going. And imagine a world with no cancer.

Maybe, just maybe, in a decade or so, there will be no need for a slogan because cancer will be just like smallbox: a memory.

Want more info? Text me at 791-8214, check us out on Facebook at WashCo Relay for Life or visit the web at www.relayforlife.org.