I'm not holding a grudge against anyone who did do that post, nor have I berated anyone for having their opinion on the matter. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I encourage people expressing theirs. I want everyone to be who they are, not to just follow blindly. I'd hope that people had the same respect for me, and my opinion, even if its different. But I haven't found that to be the case. But that is neither here, nor there. This post is really about what that game pretends to be about. Breast Cancer Awareness.
If you are truly wanting to raise awareness on this disease, I implore you to find another way. Find a way that actually mentions it or links to it in some way. There are so many places you can go to find info, and to share that info is what will really help this disease.
Maybe you can have a trivia status to bring awareness. Like "Guess what your chances are of getting breast cancer in your life?" The answer is 1 in 8. That is about 12%.
If you prefer a funny status, how about something like "Go ahead, cop a feel, on yourself. And do it regularly!", because we all know that self examination is a must. Who knows your boobies better than you? Not even your husband. So check those ta-ta's ladies!
Perhaps you like a vague status, ya know, to keep people guessing. Maybe just put a type of breast cancer as your status. We all know that a status simply saying "Invasive Ductal Carcinoma" is probably going to get a few comments.
And don't forget the men! All these Facebook games going around seem to say "Keep this a secret from the men", and that I truly don't understand. Why are we trying to keep breast cancer awareness away from dudes? Dudes get breast cancer too! And with all the hype around this particular cancer, very little of it is geared at getting men involved too.
If you're trying to support your friends and family dealing with breast cancer, I don't a fake pregnancy status is really doing the trick. Give them a call, see what you can do for them. Make them a meal or two so they have one less thing to worry about. Go visit them. Listen to them. Pray with them. Participate in fund raisers for cancer research, like the Relay For Life.
There are SO many things that we could all do that would really make a difference, but it does involve more than playing tricks on all your Facebook friends.
For more info on Breast Cancer:
http://www.breastcancer.org/
http://www.cancer.org/index
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/breast-cancer/DS00328
http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001911/
I feel exactly the same way. I burst into tears after an emotional meeting at our adoption agency yesterday when in all honestly I thought two different friends were announcing pregnancies. It wasn't until later on in the day when I saw another status worded in a similar way I realised it was not what it initially looked like. Could have done without that...I know it's just a game, but it didn't feel funny to me.
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