October is a month in which I am reminded how cancer is both a terrible disease and a great way to move pink merchandise.
Everywhere I go, I see pink staplers or pink candy or pink signs that say “buy our pink crap for the cure!” (The word “crap” is not actually used.) One sign even said something about giving the gift of courage, which could be obtained, apparently, if I shelled out a few bucks for pink flowers.
That’s stupid in general; let’s never mind the philosophical black hole of me giving someone else courage.
My grandma died of cancer. I know lots of people who have had it, or died from it. I certainly care. It has nothing to do with a lack of caring. I just hate the marketing machine it has become and the  raised eyebrow when I express disinterest in participating. Guilt is, apparently, the currency of fundraising.
I think the web site BuyLessCrap.org, in response to the Red campaign, has a good, general idea: shopping is not a solution. You are using the cause — no matter how you dress it up and in what color — as a tool to sell more stuff. “Buy my flowers if you knew someone with cancer.”
Why don’t I just buy a hot chocolate at Starbucks tomorrow out of concern for the manatee? Same thing.
Whenever you mix consumerism (or capitalism, if you’re Michael Moore) with a cause, it’s pennies and nickels and dimes for the cause and a crapload of free goodwill advertising for the business pushing it. I’d rather donate directly to the source instead of running it through someone’s cash register to see five pennies squeeze out a week later, looking for cancer cells to conquer.
If we all really really cared about our various causes, instead of tossing money around we might volunteer at a hospice or tell our kids to take up science and math instead of a liberal arts degree.
I don’t think buying a specially marked pink Sharpie marker in October will stop breast cancer. I really don’t.
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Imagine also the shell-shocked response from people when you say you’ll wear their ribbon/pin/shirt/scarf/whatever when the cause is prostate cancer awareness (instead of breast cancer awareness) or to fund building a homeless shelter for men. Oooo…them’s fightin’ words.
I just want you to know I didn’t do the volunteering. I quit making donations for the year. I feel I’ve given enough as well!
I also agree with the whole post.
I’LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU, A!
Oh, alright. I just can’t resist the bear claws or the bread.
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