Livestrong

This weekend I was shouted down by the Greenpeace Lawyer at the tavern in Essex. He asked me if I knew what his color of “Live Strong” bracelet meant and luckily my sister knew, because not only am I ignorant of what your coloured bracelets mean I also think they are trite and just a bit tacky. My favorite by far is the little plastic bracelet that signifies supporting the Environment.

I may be wrong, but it seems to be that plastic is antithetical to environmentalism, especially plastic destined to take up space in a landfill until the Armageddon. The lawyer, who I agreed with in principle, was wearing one to say that he supports poverty because apparently ‘we are all in it together,’ especially lawyers rounding out a six week vacation on the east coast staying at an expensive hotel, bedecked in Lauren with a wife dripping in ‘bling.’ Elizabeth hit the nail squarely on the head when she said, “You are against poverty? Live with the poor, work with the poor, be poor.”

I am so tired of wealthy people shouting down at me from their ivory towers, in the trenches - not only below the poverty line my myself - working to improve the lives of everyone (by teaching), especially our future generations. I would have been offended by the lawyer had he not been so comical. Wealthy people, either get down here and get your hands dirty or shut the hell up.

What is my action plan? I am not Jonathan Kozol, who will rant away but refuse to offer any concrete ways to improve the lives of others beyond liberal ‘academic’ malaise and rhetoric. I have something I plan to do to change the world.

I am going to make those bracelets unfashionable by association. I will wear mine so people see how useless and tacky they are, if I am wearing one, do you really want to as well? I support those causes, no one is opposed to them, but I would prefer to see active work towards solutions of problems instead of passive fashions.

Comments

[l-empress]

I'd be glad to send you a pink bracelet. We have them in the house, but I don't wear one because I AM the symbol here.

[Alex Vance]

Remember those "Baby On Board" signs that people put on their car windows for a while? I think this bracelet craze is about ready to go the same way.

[Margaret]

I don't like ANY of those bracelets and refuse to wear them. All the money that I would pay for them I would rather put into causes I believe in.

[Rachel]

The Cubs have a blue one that says "Believe" on it. Being a die-hard Cubs fan, I find that hilarious. I agree, though, that they're a ridiculous way to show people what you support. Reader's Digest had an article about that recentlyish. Anyway, I hope that trend dies out soon...

[mental]

My first encounter with them was some guy standing in front of a store wearing one..."Live strong". He was smoking.

[Terri]

I tried going to the livestrong website so I can finally learn what the different colors mean without having to ask and sound stupid and uncool. The website is temporarily down. Figures. Guess I'll go about actually living life now never knowing what yellow or pink mean. I think I'll survive.

[Suburban Island]

Bravo. Well put.

[Grant]

I'm going to get one that reads 'Litter' then while in front of a group of people I'll 'suddenly' realize what I'm wearing, and toss it on the ground. Then I'll point at the one on my other wrist 'Cuss' and tell them to F-off.