It seems like everybody is wearing the Lance Armstrong "Livestrong" bracelets. I guess it is for cancer. When I see them, I picture a giant mountain of all the discarded bracelets that will be thrown away once the trend is over. A landfill with a sea of bright yellow rings - how is that helping cancer? What if I went around selling chocolate marshmellow carmel bars, for Diabetes. You want the cure, but you don't realize you are holding the problem in your hand.
They're made in China too; are the young workers who breathe in melted plastic fumes for less than a living wage "livestrong?" It's like saying, I'll livestrong, you livepoor.
Only in America would we try to fix a problem with consumption.
I saw a bracelet last night that was black inscribed with "livewrong." That's more like it.
You know what else bothers me lately? The magnetic ribbons for your car that "support the troops." Great idea. Spend a few measley dollars to decorate your gas guzzling car that is the reason our troops are dying int he first place. You know what my troop needs? Not magnets, that's for sure. Perhaps some of his tax money back, or an economy that was strong enough that he didn't have to join the army in the first place.
I don't blame the individual who bought these paraphenalia. I drove home yesterday, and was seething the whole way about all the ribbons I saw on the interstate. But then I changed my tune when I pulled into the driveway of my friend, and his mom had a ribbon on her beat-up Chrysler. She really did buy that to support the troops; her youngest son is in the Navy, and the middle son will leave for the Marines infantry in March. The little magnet from the gas station she is trying to get a part time job from is the only thing she can do to get behind her troops. Sigh.
I'm pointing the finger at our society that can't see the hypocrisy in all these good-will gimmics. The bracelets and the magnets are well meaning, but extremely short sighted.