Well, it's that time of year again. Did you know that October is a month that's brimming with "awareness"? Take a look at the month of October on the Wikipedia page for the list of commemorative months and you'll find multifarious examples such as: National Country Ham Month; National CyberSecurity Month; National Toilet Tank Repair Month; Hunger Awareness Month, and many more. But none of them can hold a candle to the most heavily promoted: Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Or as I like to call it, Corporate Manipulation of A Trendy Disease Month -- and I include the big name nonprofits in this category.
In case you haven't heard, I have a bone to pick with the breast cancer industry and if you please - please don't ever buy anything pink in my honor ( for the back story read my post When Pink Stinks).
I'd like to dedicate this post to dear Kate's father who succumbed to PANCREATIC cancer -- a cancer for which there is little awareness. Did you know that November is National Pancreatic Cancer Month? Well it is. And purple is the color of the ribbon. Not that these are the things that truly matter.
My point is that breast cancer is the sexy disease that gets all the big money PR and it bothers me. A lot. I feel for those - and their family members - that have one of the less "popular" cancers. Would Ford Motors or Yoplait Yogurt attach Colon Cancer to their product? You know the answer. Don't encourage or support this scheming trend in consumerism, please. Stretch your awareness above and beyond the glossy media campaigns and don't be swayed by schmaltzy rosie colored adverts. For some good reading -- from my favorite alternative sports writer -- check out Dave Zirin's article, The NFL Is Thinking Pink.
I wish you all good health.
