I have no problem with trying to drum up funds and support for diseases and people in need, but "awareness weeks" have always been a pet peeve of mine. Not because of what they stand for, it's great to promote helping the less fortunate, but because of how ineffective that concept or wording is. If all you really want to do during that week is create "awareness," your goal is pretty easy and fairly mundane.
Being "aware" of something does nothing to fix the problem. I am aware of homelessness, hunger, heart disease, brad pitt, the NFL, hot pants and "name your sickness," but that awareness doesn't really accomplish anything. Being "aware" doesn't mean I'm helping anything. Sure, for some people being aware means that they now know they need to keep an eye out for it...but even there, being "aware" doesn't help, you still need to act on that knowledge. Instead of being aware, we need people to help. We need people to donate and become advocates for helping those in need. We need people to volunteer. Being "aware" of a disease and not helping does about as much as being aware of a big sale at Target and not going...
I'm not saying we should get rid of weeks that benefit diseases, sicknesses and other issues, I'm saying that we should stop being satisfied with "awareness." We don't need people feeling all rosy because they are "aware", we need them to actually contribute to the betterment of the situation...
Calling it an "awareness" week makes it the "participation" award of the county fair...did you get a ribbon? Yes...but did you really win anything?
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