“Why We’re Going Nuts”

Last week, Time magazine printed a great article about peanut allergies, called “Why We’re Going Nuts Over Nut Allergies), by Alice Park. (Read it here.) It’s one of the more balanced, informative, and all-encompassing articles I’ve read in a while. It goes through each aspect of food allergy one by one – what it is, what might be causing it, who is suffering from it, possible on-the-horizon therapies, the hysteria backlash, how airlines are reacting, and how schools are dealing with it, and so on.

If someone you know doesn’t understand much about food allergies, showing them this article would be a good place to start. And the fact that it’s in Time gives it a little more credence for those who are a tad skeptical.

One of the things I like about the article is its moderate voice and impartial stand. It simply states that yes, it’s a real concern, and there are things we can do about it. But in a year when there’s starting to be huge backlash, it breathes a nice sense of calm into the debate.

As with all situations, hysteria and cries for extreme measures do nothing to help our cause. Instead, they incite the other side to react just as strongly the other direction, just as unreasonably. But taking a calm, practical approach, with an eye towards seeing that both sides are able to live with reasonable precautions makes everyone more willing to work together to find a compromise.

Politicians, lawyers, and religious extremists have been proving this to us for thousands of years – scream, and the world will scream back at you. Smile and offer ideas, and the world might just listen. It takes a lot of smiles and a lot of patience, but usually lasting change happens slowly, with reasonable people having reasonable ideas, not through violent people insisting we think their way.

Some folks might say that you can’t get anyone’s attention until you scream. They’re entitled to their opinion. But that’s never worked for me. Being helpful and reasonable, yet steadfast, has gotten me a lot farther. Look at Trace Adkins last year – he raised a huge amount of awareness last year by choosing the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network as his charity on “The Apprentice.”

And the only time he raised his voice was to sing.

Trace Adkins Raises His Voice for Food Allergy Awareness

Food allergy awareness has hit the Big Time! You probably know by now that Trace Adkins, country music star, was recently on The Celebrity Apprentice TV show, competing to win $250,000 to donate to the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN). What an incredible advance in awareness, over the course of just a few weeks.

Trace’s 6-year-old daughter has severe food allergies, and because of that, the singer has joined the millions of families struggling with food every day. But unlike most of us, Trace has the ability to turn his efforts into national campaigns raising hundreds of thousands of dollars! Although he lost to Piers Morgan in the last episode, he won the hearts and minds of millions of viewers. Everyone seems to agree that he showed uncommon integrity and values in a show (and genre) not necessarily known for rewarding good guys. To see a Celebrity Apprentice video clip of Trace explaining what it’s like to have a child with food allergies and why his chosen charity is FAAN, click here.

Just because the show is over doesn’t mean Trace has quit working for food allergy awareness, though. Trace is working with FAAN to raise money for research and awareness programs in several ways. If you’re a country music fan, you can help Trace raise money for FAAN by downloading a live recording of his hit single “You’re Gonna Miss This” from iTunes for only 99 cents. Proceeds from sales of the song go directly to FAAN, but hurry, because it ends April 10. To download the song, go here.

And finally, Trace will once again be the National Honorary Chair of FAAN’s Walk for Food Allergy this year. The first Walk in 2008 will be in Richmond, Virginia on May 3.

In the blog world, Trace is everywhere. The Allergy Notes blog has several videos related to Trace’s work on the Celebrity Apprentice. The CMT Lifestyles blog talks about Trace’s heartbreaking story. The CMT Country Music Blog has a lot of comments from readers that show how Trace really touched people’s hearts.

Trace will be performing in Wendover, Nevada on May 2. Members of the Utah Food Allergy Network (UFAN) are signing a poster to deliver to him, thanking him for all he’s done for food allergy awareness. If you want to be a part of that poster, just post your message to him as a comment on my blog, and I’ll make sure it gets to the right person.

Personally, I don’t listen to country music, and I’d never heard of Trace Adkins before all this started. Now, however, if anyone asks me who my favorite country singer is, I won’t hesitate to answer. Trace Adkins sounds pretty darned good to me.