My Experience Is More Than a Pink Ribbon

There’s nothing dainty or pretty about having breast cancer

Heather Jauquet
Being Known

--

Photo by Gabriel Aguirre on Unsplash

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”― L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

There is so much I love about October. It’s the cooler weather, the bevy of red, gold, and orange that brighten up the trees before giving us a blanket of crunchy leaves to shuffle through on our way to school. October is fire pits and sipping hot chocolate. It’s soccer games, and cross country meets. It’s cozy sweaters and boots. But, most of all it’s the celebration of my daughters’ birthdays and that I’m still around to enjoy them.

But October also means the onslaught of pink ribbons, the Pink Out, where students wear pink one day during the month to support breast cancer awareness. I see the local high school football teams brighten their uniforms with pink ribbons or pink lettering. I see manufacturers and businesses cheapening my experience by selling pink items, which most likely don’t benefit anyone except the manufacturer who prey on women’s vulnerabilities or those who want to support a family member or friend going through breast cancer. They are fooled into thinking that buying that pink ribbon item will actually go towards funding a cure.

--

--