A rant too petty for the Pit about "awareness"
Lately, it seems that I've gotten stuck behind too many SUVs with tailgates festooned with colorful "awareness" ribbons of all colors that represent all manner of causes. (There's also the froot loop who drives around in a van whose windows bear testimony to his belief that vaccines caused his son's autism. He's included in this rant, although I feel bad for him and his son because taking care of autistic kids is a tough row to hoe. I just take issue with his van, that's all.)
I'm sorry that you/your child/someone close to you has Schmuck's Disease. Honestly, I am. I may not have heard of Schmuck's Disease before, and may not even know what it is, but you have my sympathy. What? Only one person in recorded history has had Schmuck's Disease, it's so rare? Wow. Let me find my hanky.
And there's this site, which explains the code of colors and different patterns of awareness ribbons. Some of them make sense: An American flag design remembers the victims of 9/11; a white lace ribbon is for osteoporosis (holes, get it?); a rainbow ribbon is for GLBT rights; a puzzle design is for autism awareness; and so forth. Fine.
But when I see an orange ribbon, am I supposed to be aware of leukemia, hunger, cultural diversity, or self-injury? Or is for that one-in-a-million hungry biracial cutter with leukemia? I'm really not sure, and the plain orange ribbon doesn't help much.
It's not that I suffer from compassion overload. I don't. There are plenty of causes I care about, like breast cancer (part of the proceeds from my Vera Bradley pink elephant backpack go to breast cancer research, and I've given money to the Susan G. Komen Foundation); civil liberties (I've got the ACLU card to prove it); public radio (ditto); cystic fibrosis (it runs in my family, so they get money from me every so often); and the Democratic Party.
But it doesn't matter, because I don't support your cause. Sorry about that.
I'm sorry that you/your child/someone close to you has Schmuck's Disease. Honestly, I am. I may not have heard of Schmuck's Disease before, and may not even know what it is, but you have my sympathy. What? Only one person in recorded history has had Schmuck's Disease, it's so rare? Wow. Let me find my hanky.
And there's this site, which explains the code of colors and different patterns of awareness ribbons. Some of them make sense: An American flag design remembers the victims of 9/11; a white lace ribbon is for osteoporosis (holes, get it?); a rainbow ribbon is for GLBT rights; a puzzle design is for autism awareness; and so forth. Fine.
But when I see an orange ribbon, am I supposed to be aware of leukemia, hunger, cultural diversity, or self-injury? Or is for that one-in-a-million hungry biracial cutter with leukemia? I'm really not sure, and the plain orange ribbon doesn't help much.
It's not that I suffer from compassion overload. I don't. There are plenty of causes I care about, like breast cancer (part of the proceeds from my Vera Bradley pink elephant backpack go to breast cancer research, and I've given money to the Susan G. Komen Foundation); civil liberties (I've got the ACLU card to prove it); public radio (ditto); cystic fibrosis (it runs in my family, so they get money from me every so often); and the Democratic Party.
But it doesn't matter, because I don't support your cause. Sorry about that.