"If you don't think every day is a good day,
just try missing one."
-- Cavett Robert
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| Life cereal 10-11-14 |
"I tell you life is sweet
In spite of the misery
There's so much more
Be grateful ...
I tell you life is short
Be thankful because before you know
It will be over.
-- Natalie Merchant, "Life is Sweet"
Last night our high school held a "pink out" at the football stadium and joined teams around the country in promoting "A Crucial Catch," the NFL and American Cancer Society's joint campaign to emphasize annual breast cancer screenings.
The players wore pink.
The students wore pink.
The fans wore pink.
The band wore pink.
The cheerleaders wore pink.
Even our tiger mascot wore pink.
Even our tiger mascot wore pink.
The ubiquitous pink breast cancer awareness ribbons are everywhere these days, showing up on everything from football helmets to tattoos to cereal boxes. It seems like everyone is jumping on the breast cancer bandwagon.
I don't know about you, but when something saturates the consciousness like that, I tend to stop paying attention.
I don't know about you, but when something saturates the consciousness like that, I tend to stop paying attention.
But not anymore.
Because now there is someone in my life who I love very much, who lost someone she loved very much, to breast cancer.
And because of her, last night's stadium full of pink ribbons and t-shirts and wrist bands weren't just a bunch of bandwagon hoopla.
They were a celebration of life. The sweetness and brevity and fragility of life.
Life is good. And for some, life is far too short.
If something as simple as wearing a pink t-shirt encourages someone to get a mammogram that catches early-stage breast cancer that can be slowed down, or better yet, stopped, well, then according to my math, wearing a pink t-shirt is a life-saving act.
There are currently about 3 million women in the U.S. who have, or have had breast cancer. That's 3 million mothers and sisters and daughters and aunts and grandmothers and friends and wives and girlfriends and lovers.
If we can do something to stop that number from growing, wouldn't that be a good thing?
Pink out.
If something as simple as wearing a pink t-shirt encourages someone to get a mammogram that catches early-stage breast cancer that can be slowed down, or better yet, stopped, well, then according to my math, wearing a pink t-shirt is a life-saving act.
There are currently about 3 million women in the U.S. who have, or have had breast cancer. That's 3 million mothers and sisters and daughters and aunts and grandmothers and friends and wives and girlfriends and lovers.
If we can do something to stop that number from growing, wouldn't that be a good thing?
Pink out.
(To learn more about "A Crucial Catch," click here.)
MLJ 12-24-12
