The rules are simple. Start today clean-shaven and grow a moustache, or a goatee for a month. Try and raise money and try and get people to sponsor you. Most of all, when they ask you why you have those ridiculous whiskers, explain that it is all being done to raise awareness about prostate cancer.

The idea started out in Australia some years back, and became the breast cancer ‘ribbon’ for men. But we do it differently; we are to grow our whiskers with pride.

For men, prostate cancer is probably the equivalent of what breast cancer is for women. If caught early and treated, it is very curable. It also displays no symptoms and men being men, tend to ignore the possibility that it might strike them.

Men are terrible creatures for going to the doctor’s office anyway, even for a check-up. But cancer can strike anyone, rich or poor, young or old; the disease knows no bounds and everyone has been touched by it directly or indirectly. The least we can all do is sport the ’tache for a month and try and raise more awareness of why we are doing it. They will itch, they will also give rise to many a laugh and session of finger pointing. But it is all done with a good dose of humour and it is also an opportunity for those who have never tried to grow their whiskers to actually do it.

Will it be a Poirot, trucker, handlebars, Chaplin, beef steak or Bogart? Well, that is entirely up to you, but the important thing is to wear it with pride and tell people just why you are content to look like a fool for a month.

We do have a good sense of charity and spirit in Malta, just look at the President’s Fun Run, the Arctic Challenge, l-iStrina and all the other events which are put together for a good cause. From rugby teams to offices to individuals, men in Malta are ready to do it; what this newspaper is trying to do is encourage others to do it. Go on, be sports and get involved.