Wearing the Pink Shirt

This month has been Breast Cancer Awareness month and each week we get an email reminder to wear pink on Friday. The HR representative also makes a pitch at Thursday's staff meeting. But, of course, the guys tend to opt out of this. Sure, we will wear the little stick-on bows, but none of the guys have worn a pink shirt to work so far.

For some reason, I was thinking about this last night on the commute home. (I do have quite a bit of thinking time now.) I asked myself why I would not wear pink shirt to work. Sadly, the reason boiled down to embarrassment or concern about what people would think of me.

Well, it quickly dawned on me that these are not reasons at all. Instead, they are excuses.

Considering all the suffering that people with breast cancer go through, wearing a pink shirt to work is the very least that a person could do.

So I went to Walmart in search of a pink shirt.

I locate one.

It is as small. That is the only pink shirt. Usually, I get a medium.

But I notice that it is on the $5 rack. So I pick it up and head to the register. My thought is that even if it shrinks too much to wear again after a couple washings, $5 is probably okay to spend.

Well, I get up to the cash register and the cashier enters the number from the tag because the bar code is missing.

The cash register reads $1.07.

I say that it is $5. She says that it is$1.07.

I kind of take it as an omen of sorts.

Anyway, this all kind of really struck home today because I'm having trouble with my platelets again. So wearing my pink shirt, I stopped by the Arnett Hematology an Oncology building to get a blood test.

I was kind of struck by the words on the sign. I was there for the Hematology part but a lot of other people go there for the Oncology - the cancer - part.

I was just led to think about the sick and suffering.

We take so much for granted. Like I've said all week here at work, it is so easy to get into a cave - to have myopia. Yet so much more is going on in this world - a lot more than we can even begin to fathom.

(By the way, the blood tests came back better than expected and I feel great so we are waiting to see what next week brings.)

Take care,

Todd