"Power of connection” Well the FB kind!

I have been on FB for a while. Actually just over six months now. Friends arm twisted me into getting there; and someone has to pretty much body twist me in getting me out of there. I caved in and followed the trend and honestly I am loving it. I check in from time to time on FB, on what my friends are upto; what’s the world thinking today, what’s the latest grapevine; and yes.. follow the fad: The latest... raise breast cancer awareness by posting the color of your bra! WTF! Yes.
I logged in the morning and I kept wondering what’s with the facebook status of colors man. Why do i see, pink, red, white, black; and then I check my email! Aha! One of my girlfriends sent me an email.. Write the color... like your girl friend's status and tell the 'sisterhood!' That’s exactly what i did! Cute, catchy way of raising breast cancer awareness, i thought!
And then came more colors... and then came all guys responses.. cheesy, trying to be funny and some horrific: Here are the examples:
"Show me, dont tell me!".. followed by "How can we be sure of the colors mentioned on fb; please send pics ;)".. followed by "Doctor recommends, purple, blue, black".. and others like.."Lacy or not!", "I have colorful friends" and so on!
In less than twelve hours... the network had articles all over explaining what's going on. A word Slacktivismwas coined.. and used very well in this context. There were enough debates and discussions about it. There were people being super inquisitive, super funny and super embarrassing... But point was: The word spread.. People did speak about breast cancer awareness outside the doctor's office or out of hushed conversations in the corridor.
Yes, there are other ways of raising awareness... but as i told a friend of mine; by far.. it is the funniest and the most inexpensive way that i have seen.
A very close friend's mum had breast cancer. Thankfully, she is doing well now, but she told me, it was only due to the self examinations which her daughter forced her into!
A lot of people still don’t talk about it openly and I get that... It's personal! But i do bow down to the power of “FB” connection, in talking up one issue so close to the "sisterhood" that it made people stop and take notice.. And in their own way.. Spread the word!
And yes… agreed… the color has nothing to do with the awareness… but the cause has.
I don’t know about the origins of this, who started it, it might have been a sicko who is now smirking in delight; or it might have been a simple idea which gained global.. well Facebook momentum!

Oh by the way... Cancer is the number 2 killer in US. And 15% of cancer deaths are due to Breast Cancer! And i didn’t know it, until i researched for this post!

For once, i was okay with sharing just a bit too much information!