October 8- "Pink"

 For about year now, my mother has been supporting a very close friend of ours through her final battles of terminal, stage-four breast cancer.Our friend and her husband are unlikely to make it through the next month of their respective battles with cancer (this  is also her second bout with breast cancer). They are both receiving palliative care.

 My mother is not a clinician, nor is she a researcher. She did not buy any pink, plastic, rhinestone encrusted tchochkes to proclaim her support of our friend to the world. But she is doing the most I've ever seen anybody do for the cause of improving the lives of our sisters in humanity who are suffering in this particular way. 

For the past year my mother has been going to our friends house, with other women from our Buddhist community, to  chant in prayer (sometimes for hours at a time)with her. My mother sometimes provides transportation to and from the hospital for treatments. My mother and the other women cook and clean for her and her family when the chemo has ravaged them, body and soul, beyond the point of exhaustion. These women spend time simply talking and laughing with her- this, I think, is the key contribution. There isn't a lab in the world that can produce this kind of healing. 

Yes, it STILL (in 2013, no less!) needs to be said loudly and often that IT IS RECOMMENDED FOR WOMEN AGE 40 AND OLDER TO HAVE A MEDICAL SCREENING THAT INCLUDES A MAMMOGRAM ONCE EVERY YEAR BECAUSE EARLY DETECTION IS KEY FOR MAXIMIZING SURVIVAL AND QUALITY OF LIFE. Yes, funding research to improve treatment and to find a cure is crucial. But with all our focus on creating rosy future, the hardships being endured by women  like our friend go un-addressed. I fear they are marginalized in favor of a shiny, pink, happy soundbite from a fundraising/ awareness walk. 

When I first saw this photo a day prompt I almost decided to abstain from participating that day. As a public health worker, I am VERY opposed to "Pinkwashing". How can taking a photo of something pink and then posting it on my far flung corner of the internet for damn near nobody to see be meaningful, rather than an act of "slacktivism"? What would I photograph that could possibly honor our friend and my mother's efforts? 

 

In the end, I decided to snap a quick photograph with my cell phone of something that is, to many, the ultimate act  of do-nothing-ness. It is a photo of my prayer beads in action. They happen to be pink.  This photo is of the Buddhist practice that is the foundation of the relationship between our family and our friend's family. When I chant with these beads in my hands, I can provide words of encouragement and emotional support for my mother, over a thousand miles away. When my mom does this she can find the energy to provide for our friend and her family. When our friend does this, she can find the courage to face the future with dignity.