I
wonder, sometimes (lots of times) if I’m maybe getting a little crotchety now I’ve
hit that 30 mark, if perhaps somewhere along the line I’ve lost my sense of ‘fun.’
My Facebook feed, just like most I imagine, has been over-run lately with videos
of the ALS ice bucket challenge and the whole thing is just making me think things.
Don’t
get me wrong, I have absolutely nothing against raising both awareness and
money (I conceded and took part in the ‘no make-up selfie’ earlier this year)
and I think anything which at its heart is about those two things can only be A
Good Thing.
ALS
(or MND as we know it in the UK)
is a horrible horrible condition, and it’s close to my heart: my Auntie lost
her Mum to MND, and my cousins their grandmother. I know how awful it is, and
there is no doubt at all that the £48 million donated to the cause worldwide since
the ice bucket challenge started is excellent. If you want to take part, if you
want to pour a bucket of ice cold water over your head in the name of charity
then be my guest. I applaud you. I offer to you the highest of fives.
I
shan’t be joining in, though.
Call
me a spoilsport, or a killjoy, or a wimp. Call me what you will, but here’s the
thing, I just think it’s gone a little crazy. I give to charity; I have a
direct debit set up to the charity of my choice. I make a donation every single
month and have done for ten years. I just don’t like being made to feel like I
have to do something, that if I don’t do it then I will be judged or called
out. I’ve seen a couple of other people
refuse the challenge - refuse the challenge but still make a generous donation - which surely is the point, right?
‘Not
good enough’ the comments declare, ‘the forfeit for not taking part is £100.’
The
forfeit? I do not like this, not one
little bit (said the fish in the bowl to the cat in the hat etcetera) Then, 24 hours the videos tell me. 24 hours,
or what exactly? The whole thing feels too much like peer pressure and I don’t like
that.
Charity
isn’t about giving (and dousing yourself in cold water) because you feel like
you have to. It’s about those who have
a little more than they need, giving whatever they can to a cause that needs
it. Raising money and awareness is admirable, but feeling obliged to do
something just because a bucketload (pun intended) of people on the internet
are doing the same and making me feel like I have to? It just doesn’t feel
right.
It’s
not a challenge; it’s a dare. I don’t like to be dared.
If
I’m going to give to charity – like I already do – then I want it to be my
choice. If I want to do a run, or even dump a bucket of iced water over my head
and raise money by doing so then I will. But don’t make me feel like I have no
choice, don’t make me feel like I will be ridiculed for not taking part, don’t
make me feel bad.
&
before you start, this has nothing to do with the discomfort of the icy cold
water of the challenge, and everything to do with the discomfort of the
situation.
Something
else? There is something inherently wrong I think, in giving to one group of
people in needs whilst laughing in the face of another. California at the
moment is in the middle of one of the worst droughts ever recorded – taps have
dried up and water wastage is being fined – but even that is nothing in
comparison to the millions of people who are dying all the time because they don’t have access to clean water and here
we are, millions of us who have an endless supply of water at our fingertips,
literally pouring it away. For….charity. The figures I read claimed approx. 5
people per day die from MND in the UK alone, which is terrible. The
number of deaths from having no access to clean water though? Closer to
3.5million a year. It kind of makes you think a little, doesn’t it?
I’ve
made my donation to MND (text ICED55 and your amount to 70070 if you want to do the same. It really is a very worthy cause) and I’ve made a
small donation to wateraid too, but that bucket of water? It’s staying full.
