An old adage suggests there is strength in numbers.
Not the numbers of our ABCs -- although there is strength in that knowledge -- but the strength of many people, standing together, for the same cause.
Many people making the same choice made Jesse Ventura -- a third-party candidate -- governor of Minnesota, and Abraham Lincoln -- also a third-party candidate -- President of the United States.
Many people speaking out on television and in the media made everyone aware of AIDS and of Breast Cancer -- even though those two diseases kill and disable far fewer people than heart disease and diabetes.
Why is it, then, that hundreds (thousands?) of Twitter users turned their avatars red for World AIDS day, or green to support the protesters after the Iranian election, but not blue to support World Diabetes Day?
Why do we immediately understand the significance of a yellow, red, or pink loop of ribbon, but not a blue circle?
Perhaps it is because we have different agendas, work separately, and champion different causes within the realm of diabetes awareness, research, and support.
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) supports research; Children With Diabetes supports the informational and emotional needs of families with Type 1 children; the American Diabetes Association (ADA) supports everyone, but is seen by many as skewed towards T2. Organizations such as iPump and Fight It look to make sure that until there's a cure, everyone who needs insulin, can get it.(Note: neither iPump nor Fight It are directly able to provide insulin to patients. iPump's main goal is to provide insulin pumps, and Fight It is primarily able to supply testing and other non-prescription supplies. Both of these can make it possible for someone with diabetes to make better use of the insulin s/he is able to obtain through normal prescription programs, public healthcare assistance programs, and/or patient assistance programs.)
My friend Chris, over at Diabetic Rockstar, probably expressed it best when he said, "we can't even decide on a color [to represent diabetes awareness]."
[to be continued]
