Think Pink?!?...

Gonna have to blame Sherry/Have Myelin for this post...she's the culprit who reminded me we are now deep in the throws of Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Like I COULD forget October is the entire month dedicated to the boobs and "pinking thinking"...LOL Pink is EVERYWHERE!

I wrote a post last year on the old AOHELL CHEESE site (in case you're interested in reliving a prior rant at the risk of developing PTSD, here's the stink link: http://journals.aol.com/baitulos/BrainCheese/entries/2006/10/05/wheres-my-parade.../556 ), called "Where's My Parade" and, well...I'm STILL not "over it". As the month of October looms in the fore front, I am once again reminded of OUR gang sign and colors...you know, the MS orange and "Join The Movement" slogan that was unveiled last year?

OK...let me first start with this. THERE IS NOT ANOTHER WORD IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE THAT RHYMES WITH ORANGE!!! What WERE "they" thinking? Every other color in the spectrum (minus purple) rhymes with some word...but, alas...NOT orange. We MSers are locked in...there will NEVER be a cutesy rhyming saying for us as long as we are flying the ORANGE banner.

And I'm sorry to beat a dead horse here but...I've said it before and I'll rant it once more (even THAT little line rhymes...but NOT orange!), when I see/read/say, "Join The Movement", I am automatically driven to images of BOWEL MOVEMENTS! Maybe it's the health care professional in me...maybe it's my attraction to bodily secretions...or maybe it's the BROWN and ORANGE colors of the MS Society logo! I don't know..."Join The Movement = BM to me...pure and simple. And, it's NOT a pretty sight.

I understand "they" have even changed our somewhat attractive RED rubber wrist bands to ORANGE?!? Now what? Do I have to stop wearing my read "Band Of Hope" and trade it out for the new ORANGE one? I don't have anything in my wardrobe that GOES with orange! This is going to cause ripples of anxiety across the fashion world...I feel it...LOL

I remain deeply envious of the Breast Cancer Awareness public relations/advertising department...man, are they good! To be able to steal an entire month of the Roman calendar, attach your color and cause to every living person who has ever championed a cause, and raise a gazillion dollars to fight for the "cure"...that's some mighty powerful lobbying. And, to their credit, they really HAVE seemed to influence the declining rate of breast cancer in women.

I'm a little concerned about the MEN, however. Did you know that breast cancer is actually on the RISE in men in the United States? Yep, that's right...per a study published in 2003 in the BMJ, a significant increase was seen in the diagnosis of breast Ca in men. Now granted, breast Ca in men accounts for less than 1% of all cancers...and in comparison to females (roughly diagnosed around 200,000 in the USA yearly), only about 1600 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer. But, the rate of DEATH in the male population is significantly higher than that seen in females. (If you want to read the article, go here: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1126640 ).

So...here's what I'm thinking (albeit twisted). Why don't we MSers "donate" our gang sign and color to Breast Cancer Awareness for men?!? I mean really...orange and brown are much more "manly" earth tones. And I don't really hear where the Breast Cancer Awareness folks have embraced the male breast cancer population in their "movement" (probably to avoid riot behaviors in the women, no doubt)...if they had, there would already BE another color and slogan for the fellas besides "pink"!

Whaddaya think?...LOL...