Today is October 1st, and everyone on daytime TV wore pink, and we all know why.
It’s breast cancer awareness month.
At the risk of pitting one great cause against another (because they’ve already been pitted against each other by being assigned the same month) – it’s also domestic violence awareness month, but very few people know that.
Why?
Personally, if we had to choose (and I don’t think we should have to choose, but for the sake of argument) I think we should be choosing domestic violence awareness, but I get why breast cancer gets center stage.
It’s easy to get behind fighting a disease. A disease is a logical enemy. It’s an other. It’s not human, and no one is to blame for getting cancer.
But with DV – that’s perpetrated by our neighbors. Our sons and daughters. Our brothers and sisters. Our moms and dads and grandparents. It’s hard to rally people against DV when so many people out there are perpetrators or silent bystanders.
But we have to. We need to.
Yes, 1 in 8 women are affected by breast cancer. That’s huge. But more than twice that are affected by domestic violence. MORE THAN TWICE. And that’s people hurting people – which means it’s 100% preventable.
I look forward to the day when everyone proudly wears purple in October to take a stance against domestic violence – and not just when there is a current scandal happening in the NFL.
Psychobabble 