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Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a model for blurred lines

Woman with pink ribbon
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Johnson is a United Methodist pastor, the author of "Holding Up Your Corner: Talking About Race in Your Community" and program director for the Bridge Alliance, which houses The Fulcrum.

It is rare to find issues that bridge partisan lines and unite Americans across the ideological spectrum. Breast Cancer Awareness Month stands as a powerful exception.

Observed annually in October, BCAM has evolved from grassroots beginnings into a global movement, reshaping our understanding of breast cancer and, in the process, demonstrating the potential for collective action to address a shared health crisis. Almost every American citizen knows someone experiencing some form of cancer, particularly breast cancer. The BCAM model, I purport, offers valuable lessons in how to participate in our nation's social contract more faithfully in polarizing times.


The seeds of BCAM were planted in the early 20th century, with a few pioneering women speaking publicly about their breast cancer diagnoses. However, it wasn't until the 1980s that breast cancer awareness began to gain mainstream momentum. This shift was fueled by the courage of high-profile women like Betty Ford and Nancy Reagan, who shared their battles with the disease, helping to shatter the stigma surrounding breast cancer.

The turning point came in 1985, when the American Cancer Society and Imperial Chemical Industries (now part of AstraZeneca) launched the first Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The initial goals were modest: educate women about the importance of breast cancer screening and early detection. However, the movement quickly took on a life of its own, with the iconic pink ribbon becoming a universal symbol of solidarity and hope.

BCAM has surged in growth and impact for nearly 40 years, becoming a powerful global movement. Thousands of events, ranging from charity runs and walks to fundraising galas and auctions, occur each October, mobilizing communities and raising vital funds. Since its inception, BCAM has been instrumental in generating hundreds of millions of dollars in research funding. This influx of support has fueled groundbreaking discoveries, improving detection methods and treatment options and significantly boosting survival rates.

Interestingly, BCAM's importance extends beyond the medical arena. The movement has been a catalyst for a profound cultural shift, helping to dismantle the stigma and silence that once surrounded breast cancer. By fostering greater openness, empathy and understanding, BCAM has empowered survivors to share their stories and ensured that those affected by the disease feel seen and supported. Many social advocates and spiritual innovators believe these encouraging signs transfer into practices and results.

BCAM's true superpower lies in its ability to transcend the traditional boundaries that often divide us effortlessly. It doesn't matter if you identify as conservative or progressive. When we all come together, donning pink, it becomes a powerful expression of solidarity with everyone fighting the good fight against breast cancer. BCAM's influence extends beyond raising awareness; it bridges cultural and geographic divides, reminding us of a significant and profoundly shared concern: the health and well-being of our fellow human beings. In a world where differences often dominate the headlines, BCAM shines as a unifying force, highlighting our common humanity and the importance of compassion and support in the face of adversity.

The BCAM model offers a roadmap for building bridges and finding common ground. By focusing on something shared — a commonly acute health crisis — instead of a myriad of partisan differences, BCAM is an open invitation that rallies around a common purpose. All that is required is empathy, the willingness to see the humanity in others and the otherness that often mislabels our fellow humans. Also, the curating of open, honest dialogue and interplay spaces where diverse yet similar experiences are welcomed and valued.

The BCAM movement has shown that even the most daunting challenges can be overcome when we come together. It has mobilized millions of people worldwide, transforming the way we think about, diagnose and treat breast cancer. It stands as a testament to the power of collective action, demonstrating that, through unity and determination, we can reshape the world around us. From funding groundbreaking research to supporting those affected by the disease, the impact of BCAM is immeasurable.

This October, join in recognition of BCAM, teaming up with thousands of others committed to building a society with greater empathy, understanding and cooperation around a shared hope. Together, we can educate communities, advance medical breakthroughs and save countless lives. Ultimately, it is only by living in this expression of the social contract more faithfully that we can create a more just, compassionate, united and cancer-free world.

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This Isn’t My Story. But It’s One I’ll Never Forget.

Children with American flags

This Isn’t My Story. But It’s One I’ll Never Forget.

My colleague, Meghan Monroe, a former teacher and trainer in the Dignity Index, went out to lunch with a friend on the 4th of July. Her friend was late and Meghan found herself waiting outside the restaurant where, to her surprise, a protest march approached. It wasn’t big and it wasn’t immediately clear what the protest was about. There were families and children marching—some flags, and some signs about America being free.

One group of children caught Meghan’s eye as they tugged at their mother while marching down the street. The mom paused and crouched down to speak to the children. Somehow, Meghan could read the situation and realized that the mom was explaining to the children about America—about what it is, about all the different people who make up America, about freedom, about dignity.

“I could just tell that the Mom wanted her children to understand something important, something big. I couldn’t tell anything about her politics. I could just tell that she wanted her children to understand what America can be. I could tell she wanted dignity for her children and for people in this country. It was beautiful.”

As Meghan told me this story, I realized something: that Mom at the protest is a role model for me. The 4th may be over now, but the need to explain to each other what we want for ourselves and our country isn’t.

My wife, Linda, and I celebrated America at the wedding of my godson, Alexander, and his new wife, Hannah. They want America to be a place of love. Dozens of my cousins, siblings, and children celebrated America on Cape Cod.

For them and our extended family, America is a place where families create an enduring link from one generation to the next despite loss and pain.

Thousands of Americans in central Texas confronted the most unimaginable horrors on July 4th. For them, I hope and pray America is a place where we hold on to each other in the face of unbearable pain and inexplicable loss.

Yes. It’s complicated. There were celebrations of all kinds on July 4th—celebrations of gratitude to our military, celebrations of gratitude for nature and her blessings, and sadly, celebrations of hatred too. There are a million more examples of our hopes and fears and visions, and they’re not all happy.

I bet that’s one of the lessons that mom was explaining to her children. I imagine her saying, “America is a place where everyone matters equally. No one’s dignity matters more than anyone else’s. Sometimes we get it wrong. But in our country, we always keep trying and we never give up.”

For the next 12 months as we lead up to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we’re going to be hearing a lot about what we want America to be. But maybe the more important question is what we the people are willing to do to fulfill our vision of what we can be. The answer to that question is hiding in plain sight and is as old as the country itself: join with others and do your part, and no part is too small to matter.

At our best, our country is a country of people who serve one another. Some may say that’s out of fashion, but not me. Someone is waiting for each of us—to talk, to share, to join, to care, to lead, to love. And in our time, the superpower we need is the capacity to treat each other with dignity, even when we disagree. Differences of opinion aren’t the problem; in fact, they’re the solution. As we love to say, “There’s no America without democracy and there’s no democracy without healthy debate and there’s no healthy debate without dignity.”

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Beyond Party Lines
An illustration to symbolize two divided groups.
Getty Images / Andrii Yalanskyi

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The American Experiment tested whether groups with diverse interests could unite under a declaration of common principles. In this moment, we face a critical juncture that tests whether distrust and political fervor could drive Americans to abandon or deny everything that unites us.

Henry Bolingbroke contends that party spirit inspires “Animosity and breeds Rancor.” Talking of his countrymen, he wrote, “We likewise derive, not our Privileges (for they were always ours) but a more full and explicit Declaration”; Whigs and Tories can unite on this alone. That Declaration of Ours was penned by Thomas Jefferson when his colonists repelled the redcoats at the Siege of Charleston and when Washington’s troops were awaiting battle in Manhattan. The American Declaration set out those principles, which united the diverse colonies. And the party system, as Bolingbroke said, brought animosity and weakened the Union. Critics disputed these claims. William Warburton attacked Bolingbroke as an evil-speaker with “dog-eloquence”—claimed his calls for party reform were an aristocratic conspiracy to cement the power of elites. An anonymous critic argued that the government is a union of unrelated people where laws supplant the natural bonds between families. Then, the government of the United States would not exist, or would not exist long.

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Social entrepreneur John Marks developed a set of eleven working principles that have become his modus operandi and provide the basic framework for his new book, “From Vision to Action: Remaking the World Through Social Entrepreneurship," from which a series of three articles is adapted. While Marks applied these principles in nonprofit work, he says they are also applicable to social enterprisesand to life, in general.

PART TWO

PRINCIPLE #4: KEEP SHOWING UP. It has been said that 80 percent of success in life is showing up. For social entrepreneurs, this means continuing to stay engaged without dabbling or parachuting. Like a child’s toy windup truck that moves forward until it hits an obstacle and then backs off and finds another way forward, social entrepreneurs should be persistent—and adept at finding work-arounds. They must be willing to commit for the long term. I found that this was particularly important when working with Iranians, who tend to view the world in terms of centuries and millennia.

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Similarity Hub Shows >700 Instances of Cross-Partisan Common Ground

Two coloured pencils one red and one blue drawing a reef knot on a white paper background.

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It is a common refrain to say that Americans need to find common ground across the political spectrum.

Over the past year, AllSides and More Like US found >700 instances of common ground on political topics, revealed in Similarity Hub. It highlights public opinion data from Gallup, Pew Research, YouGov, and many other reputable polling firms.

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