Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Orange is the color of Feral Cat Awareness

We’ve all seen the pink ribbons for Breast Cancer awareness, right? This is a great idea to raise awareness for a disease that has affected many people’s lives. But did you know there are other colors for other types of awareness? I bet you only know a few. Puzzle Pieces for Autism, Green for Organ Donation and Yellow for Support Our Troops are the relatively popular ones. But did you know that PURPLE is the color for domestic violence awareness and religious tolerance? It’s also the color for lupus, the homeless and children left unattended in cars. ORANGE is the color for Leukemia awareness as well as hunger, racial tolerance, and Support of the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and North Samaria (Israel). Orange is also the awareness color of, I kid you not, feral cats. That’s right…feral cats. I love the fact that we’re raising awareness for diseases and certain conditions but feral cats? C’mon...is this really an issue everyone needs to be aware of? Is this even a problem anymore? And by awareness are we protecting them or wanting to be rid of them? So many questions. Anyways, let’s continue. BLUE is for child abuse prevention, hurricane support, Officers lost in the line of duty and free speech. My dad is a great man. He only wears grey t-shirts. I wasn’t sure why until today when I found out that GREY is the awareness color for brain cancer, asthma, diabetes and allergies. All my life he’s been trying to make a statement and I finally got his message. My hat’s off to you dad in your war against allergies and asthma. I salute you.

There are no less than 50 colors and color combinations that raise awareness of things like Prostate Cancer (light blue) and Homeopathy practices (emerald green) to chronic pelvic pain (light green) and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (teal). Members of my family have suffered illnesses for which people are trying to raise awareness. I am a proud organ donor and encourage others to do the same. I guess the whole point is sometimes we can go too far. I can only imagine the kind of person walking around with an orange ribbon on supporting feral cat awareness. So pick a worthy cause and stand behind it. Slap on a purple ribbon for Patrick Swayze and let the world know just how aware you really are.

7 comments:

spice2116 said...

it is amazing the way colors are brought to make people aware of the challenges around us. thanks for posting this :)

The Fletchies said...

Devin and I both make fun of awareness ribbons. They were a great idea but really does every cause need a color and ribbon? It's like how the live strong bracelets got out of control. I think what all of these organizations is missing is a little bit of originality

Anonymous said...

Hello Holly's brother. It's Holly's co-worker again. So,Holly told me that if I had a comment on one of your pieces that i needed to tell you myself so here it goes. Why Purple for Patrick Swayze? It's a little confusing to the readers to "slap on a purple braclet" if you don't know that the purple color represents a type of cancer too. Maybe you should add it. :) Just my thoughts...

goldfixe said...

Purple is the color for Pancreatic Cancer awareness. It was mostly for the people who already knew what kind of cancer he had. Now that I've explained it...the magic is gone. Way to go, Kayce.

Anonymous said...

So, Mike....Now that I have been dubbed the magic ruiner...I felt compelled to explain why I made the previous comment...you see unlike the two of us who are obviously into the "now" there are those who are not....so, being a caring individual and not wanting to leave anyone out in the dark I thought it might be nice if they knew purple stood for that paticular cancer...so, really I should be a hero for the little people who just didn't know. Way to burst my bubble Mike, thanks.
Kayce

goldfixe said...

Fair enough, Kayce. I revoke your title of Magic Ruiner and replace it with "Hero to the Little People". Oh, and thanks for even reading our blog...and entertaining my sister.

Waco Humane Society said...

Feral cats need awareness because they are still a problem. The problem is that there are lots and lots of them. Awareness is so that people find out about Trap-Neuter- Return programs, instead of just bringing them to the pound to have them destroyed. Since killing cats for no reason is not cool, TNR IS. So to make a short story long, Feral Cat awareness is to make people aware that Feral Cats should LIVE but not reproduce.

Now you know. And thanks for asking. Maybe more people will know.