Ribbons and Pink

Ribbons & Pink

Ribbons and pink

That's all I see

All around me

Used to promote products

And to "spread the word"

But really, what are we spreading?

Instead of teaching college students how to check for lumps

We are putting ribbons on their pens

Instead of taking your kids to the Susan G Komen run

We change the channel on the tv when a commercial for " race for the cure" comes on

We ignore the actual facts

and the reality of breast cancer.

We are blinded by all the ribbons and pink

October is when high school has breast cancer football games.

All the cheerleaders enjoy getting to wear pink uniforms

because they're prettier than their "normal" ones.

And the football players put captions on their instagrams

saying "real men wear pink."

Nobody knows what actually goes on.

How it feels to hear your mother say "it's cancer."

On your family vacation

Or how sad it was seeing my mom's hair being shaved off

After having the same hairstyle since she was a teen

The little things are her biggest struggles

Having to put a medicine on her eyebrows and eyelashes each morning

So she doesn't lose them like she lost her hair

Not being able to do simple tasks like go to the grocery store

because she is nauseous or weak.

Hardly eating

Because her tastebuds are disintegrating

Nobody to keep her company

unless I come home.

She once had a fiancé, the love of her life

But he left.

he just can't see her with cancer

And it's an inconvenience to him

Can't pay bills

Because we are thousands of dollars in debt

with the hospitals she attends every week

And she can't even get up to go to work

People don't know what really goes on

In the home of a breast cancer patient

Maybe if people were aware

Of the pain and suffering

Mammograms would be more frequent

Genetic testing would happen to more families

And we wouldn't be so blinded

By all the ribbons and pink