First and foremost, I would like to thank all who have read and responded to my article about the latest fad among rubber bracelets, whether you agree or disagree with it. The past few weeks I have received numerous comments on my article – both positive and negative.

I was amazed to see how many people actually misunderstood the point I was trying to relay to my readers. Let me tell those once again, directly, what my point was. I felt it was important to explain that there are many people that wear bracelets because they think its “cool” and “trendy.” There are also those who wear it to support a cause and spread awareness. The focus of my article was about those who wear them because it’s either “cool,” or it matches their outfit. Many people took personal offense to my article thinking that I opposed raising money and awareness for serious illnesses. Clearly, if you read what I said, this was not true.

I would like to praise Nancy Hall for her understanding my “verbal tirade,” as one opponent put. Nancy has had close family members who have suffered from serious illnesses and she wears her bracelet as a way of showing those that she cares and to try to promote awareness. I praise her for this. She doesn’t “rock the yellow,” as I’ve heard some people say, because it’s fashionable.

My mother, who works at a middle school in Connecticut, recently told me that almost every student in school was wearing some sort of colored bracelet. She told me that she asked some of these students what the bracelets were for, before she even knew about them. Most of their responses were “I dunno, but everyone’s wearing them.”

Although these kids may only be in middle school, it further proves my point. I guess middle school students will do anything just to be popular out on the playground.

I also want to send out another thank you to Eileen Keating for her response. Although she called my article “crap,” I respect her opinion, even though it sounds like she doesn’t respect mine. She also believed that my article was “completely insensitive, un-researched and out of line!” Well, I guess I proved her wrong by actually researching that there are people that wear these bracelets to follow a trend, even if they happen to be in middle school. I also find it hard to believe that someone can be more aware of how important bone marrow transplants are only from seeing somebody’s bracelet.

I did some more researching and found out Adidas and Nike have bracelets out called “Baller ID” bracelets. If you’re a “Baller,” you better get your hands on one of these sweet bracelets! Now, what cause is this going towards? Giving money to corporations to continue exploiting children in third world countries to make our Nike Air Shox?

And for the record, Eileen, I have had relatives die from cancer, but I don’t feel the need to have to wear a bracelet to share my grief with others. I’m 22 years old; I think I can handle it on my own.