Can We Share the Love?

The other day I was walking to lunch when I encountered the giant billboard to the right. That afternoon I went to the grocery store and was greeted with racks and racks of pink paraphernalia. That evening, my husband brought home the pen below. And I went into total Jan Brady mode.

I've been mulling over whether or not to write about this issue for a very long time. I don't want anyone to think I am in any way, shape or form against raising every last penny toward fighting and curing breast cancer. But there's something that's been bugging me about the whole world seemingly gone pink.

The NFL wears pink ribbons on their uniforms. Every year on Mother's Day, Major League Baseball players swing with pink bats and are decked out in pink wherever possible.

But guess what? There are other diseases that afflict women and moms. And the women who suffer from them are every bit as strong and brave and scared as hell. Know what the number one killer of women is?  Heart disease. (And by the way, I love this new PSA by Elizabeth Banks. It's brilliant.) Number two is cancer. Not specifically breast cancer, just cancer.

I lost a friend to leukemia. She fought like hell, but lost her battle and left behind two little boys and a husband who adored her. Was her fight any less worth heralding because it was her blood instead of her breasts that betrayed her? I often wonder if it's because hearts, brains, lungs, uteruses and a whole slew of other body parts aren't as sexy as breasts. What, no "Save the Ovaries" bracelets?

Again, please don't think for a moment that I don't support doing everything we can to annihilate breast cancer. I do. I'm just wondering if maybe we can't somehow share the love for all those fighting--regardless of what disease or illness they happen to have.