By Bonnie Williams
We would be among the first to decry the mindless videos and photos that make up the bulk of what is available on the Internet, yet one site has entertained and, we'll admit it publicly, both cheered and touched us: www.pinkglovedance.com.
The original video in 2009 featured health-care workers in Portland, Ore., employees from seemingly every department in the hospital, all pink-gloved and grinning and dancing to "Down" by Jay Sean.
It was the hospital's way of calling attention to the importance of early detection of breast cancer.
It also has allowed millions of people a respite from fatigue and worry and fear, using music to bring something fresh and hopeful out of the fight against a disease that kills more women than any other, except for lung cancer.
We couldn't find out who first came up with the idea at that Portland hospital, but the nation's largest privately held manufacturer of those now-famous pink gloves took it and ran with it, creating a follow-up video of more than 4,000 health-care workers and breast cancer survivors dancing their way to "You Won't Dance Alone" by Best Day Ever around various sites, from the Golden Gate Bridge to Times Square.
Medline Industries Inc., an Illinois firm, has also donated more than $1 million to provide education and free mammograms to those in need and continues to make contributions every year through sales of its Generation Pink products.
Medline hosted the 2011 Pink Glove Dance Competition that featured employees of 139 hospitals across the U.S. and Canada. Employees at Lexington Medical Center in West Columbia, S.C., won that first competition. The $10,000 prize was donated to the Vera Bradley Foundation supporting breast cancer research.
The 2012 competition already is under way. The videos aren't just fun. Even the money that the winning hospital staff receives for its efforts pales when compared to the admiration the employees show, in song and dance, for breast cancer survivors.
Each step is a demonstration of the exuberance of life, the triumph over a potentially deadly disease.
If laughter is indeed the best medicine (and we're among those who believe it can have a healing effect), then dancing must be the cure -- even temporarily -- for feeling alone or confused or worried as you fight for life.
And it's a fine way to celebrate your victory or that of someone you know.
Bonnie Williams is editorial-page editor of the Anderson (S.C.) Independent-Mail.
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