October 27, 2010

• uh oh, it’s october: time to look like you’re aware of causes!

  in case you didn’t know, october is serious about awareness.  i mean, really–there are, what, 30-something things to know about?  it’s national arts and humanities awareness month, lgbt history month, national dental hygiene month, polish-american heritage month, and fair trade month, to name a very, very few.  some of the causes i feel more strongly about than others.  for instance, i’m not desperate to enjoy a polish sausage sandwich while i take a hayride, which–according to the internet–is how polish-american hertiage month is celebrated.  but sign me up for passing out samples of fair trade coffee.

  

  free car with purchase of 6,000 stickers!

  thanks to email, text messages, and facebook, i’ve spent the month being bombarded by form posts about awareness.  thanks–most especially–to facebook, i’ve been informed that absurd messages about where i like to put my purse would cure breast cancer.  good to know.  i’m sure when they come up with a similar cure for kidney cancer or uterine cancer, the female members of my immediate family will be thrilled.  similarly, i discovered that if i joined a group of people who said they’d wear purple on spirit, i’d never have to worry about any of my lgbt friends suffering torment.  ever again.  srsly, k?  here’s a secret:  i know some of my friends were in that group.  and i saw a few of them on spirit day.  not wearing purple.  which means that it didn’t work.  way to jinx it.  jerks.

  frankly, i’m just offended.  that’s really all you can manage?  my mom is a cancer survivor, and the way my generation pays tribute is to post a chain letter?  i know times are tough, but–as i said when i complained about it on facebook (which did no good.  hmm…perhaps just like the posts about bra colors and purse placements?)–if every person who posted one of those stupid, impersonal messages would have taken the time to donate five or ten bucks instead, that would have raised some awareness. 

  but, hey.  i get it.  we’ve got the technology–we just haven’t figured out quite what to do with it yet.  i mean, maybe i’ll start a campaign to make that sort of change.  you know, some little grassroots movement to bring real awareness.  because then i’d be contributing in a way that all this typed ranting doesn’t.  but if i do, it’s going to be for a cause that i haven’t seen enough about this year:

  domestic violence awareness.

  that’s right.  as if you didn’t have enough to be concerned with, i’m putting my own personal favorite cause out there.  and i suppose it’s important to mention now, because the president is going to address it today, and i’ll be interested to hear what he has to say.

  in the meantime, here’s what i have to say:

  according to the most recent available statistics for the US:

  per year, roughly 192,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer.

  annually, approximately 1.3 million women and 835,000 men are physically assaulted by an intimate partner.

  granted, far more women die from breast cancer, and–cancer being an unpleasant third cousin in our family–i completely respect that. 

  but look at the number of women who are assaulted.  of those, a little more than 1200 die.  the rest of them?  they might have to deal with recurrent nightmares.  they might be afraid to go out alone after dark.  they might be uncomfortable with the fact that they still live in a town where they could be easily located.  and even if they are resilient enough to bounce back and move on, begin to trust, and actually, honest to God enjoy life again, they will fight with that fear and deal with that pain for the rest of their lives. 

  in the state of south carolina, if you go to a lawyer and request to file for a divorce on the grounds of physical cruelty, you’ll be told that you won’t get it unless you’ve been hospitalized multiple times.

  that.  is.  a.  crime.

  those of you who know me well know exactly why i’m posting this.  and i don’t think there’s much else that i need to say, so i’ll leave you with this:

  if you’re really interested in being an activist for a cause, any cause, this month, then be active about it.  don’t just send a mass text or repost something because it’s trendy or quasi-suggestive or whatever.  donate time or money or old clothes or whatever you have at your disposal to a charity that benefits that cause.  get out there and tell why you support it.  be bold and brave and speak up and out.  that sort of effort is something i can respect.

  alright, if i keep typing, i’ll just weep all over my keyboard and rant so much that i won’t get anything else done today.  so, that’s that.

  but, just to cover my arse:  if i one day develop breast cancer, then that will be sucky and tragic and i’ll acknowledge that it’s karma getting me back for this blog post.

  • 8:18 am
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