My Blue Circle, or Lack Thereof

If you didn't know, the blue circle symbolizes World Diabetes Day, which is coming up... uh, sometime. Wait, let me check.

There: it's November 14th. Plenty of shopping days left.

There have been some discussions of late about why the JDRF and the American Diabetes Association haven't embraced the blue circle. These are fair questions, but it's kind of like asking the Phillies and Major League Baseball why they don't sport the Olympic rings. Yes, we're all playing the same game, but we're doing it in different ways. At least, that's my opinion.

More to the point, I've been thinking about why I don't use the blue circle in my own avatars, much like these fine people do. To be fair, I like the look and I like the color, and God knows I like the cause.

What I don't like is the STAMP that it signifies to me. To me, the blue circle suggests that when people see me, they see a diabetic. While I'm infinitely cool with that, I'm not cool with that being my dominant characteristic, which I think such a symbol somewhat suggests. Again, that's just me. But if I were to do a blue circle, why not a 26.2 to signify the marathon? Or a Nxtbook icon to signify my employer? Both of these consume at least as much time and attention as my diabetes does.

In the end, how I want people to think of me is how I have it written on my Facebook bio:

Husband, father, spin doctor, runner, diabetic. Pretty much in that order.

I'm just not sure how to convey all of that behind a blue circle.

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