Back in my day (says the 19-year-old), October and the color pink were a married couple. One did not exist without the other; there were pink T-shirts, pink fundraisers and pink lights in the lampposts.
Breast cancer awareness was championed in the fall, and the days leading up to glorious Halloween night were filled with reminders to help make a change. For a time in the year known for chilly, demoralizing weather, and for a cause not particularly fun in nature, it seemed like the neighborhoods of America rallied together to create joy around breast cancer awareness. October, truly, just does not seem pink anymore
And so now that I’m older, hopefully wiser and a little more observant, I can see that October isn’t as pink as I once remember it being. Quite frankly, this makes me rather sad. It’s strange because local organizations such as the Pink Pledge are still fighting strong, championing the effort in local towns in Connecticut.
But if you’re not actively looking, it’s not as obvious as it once was. Pink ribbon pins are a lovely gesture, and pink shirts worn by coaches on the sidelines of football games are admirable, but the fact that breast cancer awareness feels discrete, and sometimes simply a stylistic choice, is disappointing.
The NFL is honestly one of the biggest changemakers when it comes to raising money for cancer support through its “Crucial Catch” program. Yet now more than ever, the league’s support seems like a shell of what once was. The NFL used to seem like the sponsor of pink, as every game was focused on breast cancer awareness. Sunday nights on the couch and immersing yourself in quality time with pops, watching Tom Brady chef up and seeing a whole ‘lotta pink. It was standard. Simply put.
On Thursday, Oct. 8, the NFL made a post on their Instagram account with the caption “George Pickens and Ceedee Lamb rocking pink tonight.” They’re spotlighting a great thing, but why are they showcasing two players wearing pink when really, everyone should be? Since that post and the time I am writing this, the NFL has posted a sum of 839 posts and a grand total of three of them have been related to Crucial Catch or breast cancer awareness. Three.
Since 2016, the NFL has dropped the iconic pink ribbon for a multicolored logo to “represent the multiple cancers that can be detected early.” This, of course, is a worthy action from the NFL, but taking away the pink takes away the power that the pink brought: widespread, almost ubiquitous marketing and noise.
I’m harping on the NFL here, but this really is just representative of a larger problem at hand: our fear to rally behind a cause. In the fast-paced, internet-driven world we find ourselves in today, having everyone on the same page is nearly impossible. It’s a monumental task for everyone to focus on one topic for more than a doomscroll, and even if they do, it seems the deep partisan divide that plagues the nation stunts any unity anyway. Have we, as a country, dropped the pink because we’ve forgotten in the wake of seemingly more forward and contemporary issues? Or did we stop fighting together because we, in a rather lame fashion, fail to care? If it’s the former, I’m upset; the latter, disheartened. October was our test of showing love towards our brothers and sisters struggling and we’ve failed them. Showing your support cannot exist solely in an event or game when it is being broadcast. As Coach John Wooden famously put it, “The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.”
So do I give up hope? Well of course not! My faith in locality stands, as it’s the town 5ks and the marches down main street where community is built and where the movement will start strong again. If communities as small as neighborhoods are torn so far apart by partisan opinion that they cannot stand together for a cause as just as breast cancer awareness, then we may all just need to look in the mirror and evaluate our stance as humans.
It’s up to us, the people, to make October pink again. Make a cause rooted in a disease so cruel back into a cause focused on joy, hope and love. Be loud, but more importantly, be unafraid to fight. Fight when nobody’s watching, show out even if you’re not getting paid or monetized for it. Altruism cannot be a forgotten concept, and I look forward to the year when October is pink again.