the pink and the red ribbons

This morning as I put on my earrings, I came across two ribbons in my jewelry box. One was red and the other was pink.
I wore the pink one last year in October - Cancer awareness month - and the red one I wore on the 1st of December (World Aids Day).
Every year I make sure that I remember to wear these ribbons, in honor of cancer and Aids victims and in the hope to increase people's awareness thereto.
And every year, at the end of October I put my pink ribbon in a shelf to gather dust until the next October, and at the end of the day on the 1st of December I put my red ribbon away and look forward to the following year to take action again!!!

But today as I looked at the two ribbons they held a different meaning, because last October as I wore the pink ribbon I knew two people that were getting treatment for breast cancer.
And the red ribbon has a different meaning because during the December holidays I witnessed a person very dear to me battle with HIV/Aids.


Today as I looked at the ribbons I realised that I cannot and should not wait for something to become personal before I take action. I realised that I cannot wait to know someone who is abused to be touched by woman and child abuse, I realised that I cannot wait for it to flood all over the world to be touched by global warming, and I realised that I should not wait for someone I know to be a victim to rape or murder before I speak against crime.

So, this year I will not shout for 16 days of activism against women and child abuse.
I will not wear a red ribbon on the first of December nor will I wear a pink one for the whole month of October.
I will not salute our fallen heroes on freedom day.
I will not take a girl-child to work and I will not buy a R5 sticker on casual day.
I will not close my eyes for a moment of silence to remember the victims of xenophobia.

This year is the year that we talk less and do more!!! This is the year to actively bring about change. This is the year that we stop looking the other way.

This year, every single day I will actively make a difference in my world.
I will take action to learn more about and to educate someone on HIV/Aids, I will encourage my friends to get monthly checkups in order to detect cancer early, I will not laugh when my peers make jokes about "makwerekwere" (foreigners) because their pain is my pain, I will pursue to live my life as a role-model for every girl-child (to give them something more than one day at work will), I will stop refering to my friend as "the blind girl" and rather call her by her name.

This year I will earn my right to wear those ribbons!!!