Wonderland or Not

I don’t look good in pink. I never wore it, even as a child. My parents knew bet­ter. I’ll try to explain further my rea­sons for not beco­ming part of the pink blog beau monde.

I feel the whole “pink cam­paign” just feeds the breast can­cer cash cow, a cash cow which now inc­lu­des Yoplait Yogurt. Breast can­cer will remain a cash cow until something comes along to replace it, another ill­ness com­mon among upper middle class citi­zens with the money to pay for new and expen­sive treat­ment, something to feed the greed of cor­po­ra­tions who use breast can­cer as a pubic rela­tions tool.

Most women know about breast can­cer, it seems silly to turn pink for a month every year unless you work dili­gently all year long to pro­mote edu­ca­tion in regard to breast can­cer. Real edu­ca­tion. There are great stri­des in breast can­cer research, though sadly the research is not poo­led or coor­di­na­ted bet­ween govern­ment and pri­vate research. There is still no cure, the five year sur­vi­val rate, if caught early is bet­ween 95% and 97% depen­ding on what you read, and the disease is most pre­va­lent among older women.

I sup­port events in my com­mu­nity which make funds avai­la­ble for women who other­wise would be una­ble to get yearly mam­mo­grams and expen­sive treat­ment. I sup­port research into ear­lier detec­tion and cau­sa­tion, more research into envi­ron­men­tal issues which may be asso­cia­ted with breast can­cer — issues which could be inves­ti­ga­tive in fin­ding a cure, if not a way to pre­vent it. I sup­port edu­ca­tion events which give real facts about breast cancer.

I also sup­port a more coor­di­na­ted effort of the dif­fe­rent research bodies. Those truly loo­king for a cure should not find this idea out­lan­dish. I sup­port this all year long, and do not need a “pink month”. I hope all the pink blogs out there are pos­ting some real facts about breast can­cer. I think some are quite sin­cere, many though are disin­ge­nuous. I would bet that on most pink blogs you will not find breast can­cer men­tio­ned once in the pre­ce­ding year.

Many here know this, but for those who do not, my grand­mother died from a nor­mally non-lethal virus pic­ked up in South Ame­rica. She had post breast can­cer che­mothe­rapy indu­ced immune sys­tem sup­pres­sion and this virus killed her. She was atten­ding an aca­de­mic con­fe­rence in San­tiago Chile, I accom­pa­nied her. I’m glad I got to spend the last week of her life with her. The last time I saw her alive was upon lea­ving her at the air­port in Char­les­ton South Caro­lina. I waved goodbye to her and hea­ded to my con­nec­ting flight home.

This in my opi­nion. You have all the right in the world to pink up your blog, and peo­ple should res­pect your right to do so.

Can Wea­ring a Bra Cause Breast Cancer

Study sug­gests DDT, breast can­cer link — I believe it requi­res a sign in.

Breast Can­cer dot Org

Breast Can­cer Action

Think Before You Pink

There Is A Voice Inside Of You
That Whis­pers All Day Long,
“I Feel That This Is Right For Me,
I Know That This Is Wrong.“
No Teacher, Preacher, Parent, Friend
Or Wise Man Can Decide
What’s Right For You– Just Lis­ten To
The Voice That Speaks Inside.

Shel Sil­vers­tein