I was nominated and am obviously participating, but a quick precursor: To begin, on a personal note, my aunt died of this disease. Dead in five years, from the day of diagnosis at the age of 48. Its like something out of a horror movie, being entombed in your own body. The thought of it is chilling. Perhaps some treatment, or to be able to stop the advancement of it, is something that you may be grateful for one day. It begins with not being able to do up the buttons on your own shirt, and ends with being completely immobile, with a functioning mind, as you screaming with your eyes. A little water could go a long way. So, heres the rant. First of all, yes, its a waste of water, but were you planning on sending a few gallons to a drought-ridden country? Ever flushed a spider down the toilet? Used a super soaker? Dont get on a high horse about buckets of water being thrown around, when we as a western society treat every resource we have as a bottomless pit, and now are choosing this cause to be the scapegoat for the protest-of-the-week. Secondly, to those getting upset about ALS suddenly getting all the attention and funding, when there are other diseases that kill more people, need more money, etc. etc.. I am by no means undermining the necessity for awareness and fund raising for Cancer, AIDS, Heart Disease, Depression, Diabetes, or Ebola for that matter; as well as any other sickness plaguing the human race. But that does not imply that ALS is suddenly undeserving of the attention. There is a Cancer fundraiser every other week, a Lung Disease walk-a-thon, or you can go pay $1500 a plate for an event to give money to AIDS research, where most of whats raised goes to pay a CEO and board members, then advertising, catering, decorations, blah, blah, blah. Then there are the ribbons, pins and t-shirts for any number of worthy causes that cost money to manufacture. Those arent free, (also made in third world countries, by the way, talk about perpetuating the problem). What Im saying is that a ridiculous, (albeit narcissistic), trend of dumping water on your head, THAT HAS NO OVERHEAD, to get your friends to donate money, or doing it to avoid donating yourself, (the rules have become a touch misconstrued) where in turn it invites people to be creative and excited about something that in the end goes to research and treat a disease, no matter how few people it kills. Our government spends money and resources to rescue hostages and bring home soldiers, that sometimes number in the teens. Are those lives not worthy because theyre a small number? We live in a society where no one wants to do anything for nothing, where every moment is posted on social media in some form, and where a cat licking its balls is all the rage; why not use that viral addiction and the Warholian need for everyones 15 minutes of fame to some advantage and for some good? Obviously there is no truly altruistic cause, and anyone out there saying that people are doing it for the wrong reasons are just being cruel to those who do have the best of intentions. They arent thinking before throwing rocks from their glass houses that were paid for with a paycheck from a job that they know isnt as honorable as we all would like to believe. Obviously no charity is without overhead, but the less pomp and circumstance required to bring in donations just means more goes to the actual research. ALS is as good a cause as any, so keep dumping that water until we pick a new charity, a new fad, and a new way to harness the power the internet. Get your friends to donate to see you get drenched and send those collections directly to your local ALS chapter. Then maybe the next trend can be getting people to donate money to Diabetes every time someone posts a picture of their food.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 02:52:07 +0000
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