Whats underneath that bra

I know there have been multiple posts and rants about last week's bra color status updates on facebook, but I have just been feeling the need to weigh in on this. When I first got the message in my inbox, my initial reaction was to dismiss it as another one of those silly forwards that my very compassionate and optimistic best friend always likes to send on. However, later in the day when I logged in, I was shocked to see how many of my female friends had participated and once again, blown away by the power of social media.

The fact that the initial message wasn't exactly strategic or well written makes it pretty apparent that this was not coming from the Susan G Komens of the world, but instead some random college, scratch that, high school boys wanted to know what color bras the hot chicks at school were wearing. However, the end result was that it left people talking about it, and should serve as a reminder to those of us that have an important, sometimes life-saving, message to share that social media should not be ignored.

My cousin (age 34), recently diagnosed and successfully treated for breast cancer, was quite reasonably annoyed with this because in her words "she was just happy to be wearing a bra again" because after her surgery she was in so much pain that she could not bare to strap one on and hold up the girls in healing. I can't imagine what her experience was like at such a young age, and I am so thankful that she is going to come out of this even more amazing than before, but I had to remind her that if the unintended result of these status updates was that one woman was reminded to perform her self exam, then it was a success (Let's not forget that our government recently changed their stance on the recommended age for mammograms).

As a person that works in the nonprofit sector and has simple, life changing messages to share, I want to believe that everyday people and activities have the power to change lives. So the next time (and we all know there will be a next time) there is some silly message spreading like wildfire over the internet, just hold back the cynic inside you (and I will have to stop myself too) and ask yourself if there is an underlying message that although missed by many, could impact just a few people who need it.