By Katherine Burgess
Managing Editor
While sitting in my family’s minivan counting state license plates through the window on a road trip, I noticed an array of color on one car’s bumper: multiple magnetic awareness-raising “ribbons.”
Somehow I could not keep from wondering if the driver of that car ever had actually donated money to breast cancer research, assisted at an orphanage for children with AIDS, stepped in to stop a suicide, reported something that looked like a case of sex-trafficking or consistently recycled.
Maybe the driver has done some of these things. I think it more likely he merely stuck pink, red, yellow, blue and green ribbons on the back of the car and thought the effort to be a job well done.
I know I often have done exactly the same.
Awareness-raising is incredibly important, but people cannot stop there, because raising awareness is not the same thing as seeking or participating in finding a solution.
Granted, becoming aware of a problem is the first step toward a response.
If people do not know that breast cancer is a growing problem, they cannot seek a cure or stand alongside those who suffer with the disease.
If people do not know that human trafficking still exists, then they cannot strive to end it.
Eventually, however, awareness truly has been raised.
I would be hard-pressed to find someone on Union University’s campus who does not know what AIDS is. I would be hard-pressed to find someone who does not know about the importance of caring for the environment.
But wearing a ribbon or making posters will not, in the vast majority of cases, change the status quo.
For me, wearing a ribbon or sticking a “stop human trafficking” magnet on my fridge makes me feel good. I feel like I have done something and think that “something” is enough.
The problem occurs when people allow the feeling of “having done something” that comes from wearing a colored bracelet or ribbon stop them from feeling the need to do more.
A person can know everything there is to know about an issue but never do anything to end it.
Instead of merely pinning a ribbon to our shirts or jackets and feeling like great activists, next time, perhaps, we should consider what wearing such a ribbon will actually do.
Will it help to find a cure for a malady? Will the color pink, decorating my shirt, give anyone any knowledge they do not already have about breast cancer?
Will it encourage anyone to live any differently than they already do?
Maybe the ribbon is still worth wearing. But we should never attach too great an amount of significance to a piece of fabric.
Furthermore, when people pin ribbons to their shirts and encourage others to “take action,” they essentially shift that responsibility away from themselves.
People encourage others to do what they themselves have not done. We expect others to do the work, believing we have done our part.
Instead of only promoting awareness for struggles such as cutting or depression, try to be there for friends or acquaintances who may be struggling with these conditions.
Instead of only promoting knowledge of human trafficking, put a human trafficking hotline into your phone and be prepared to use it when a situation looks suspicious to you. Try to eat ethically produced food and wear ethically made clothing.
Instead of only promoting awareness for cancer or other diseases, donate money to research for a cure.
Instead of only promoting knowledge of environmental care, start to recycle.
The list of things that people can — and should — raise awareness for is vast. In every case, however, just knowing about the subject does not suffice.
We need to go further, not only increasing knowledge about various issues but also taking active steps to make a difference.
Katherine Burgess is a sophomore journalism major.
