One of my favorite people on earth challenged me and the mah jongg master to do the ice bucket challenge yesterday. I had been keeping a low profile on this one, but if anyone could have convinced me to do this, my challenger was she, or so I thought. The MJM and I had been in discussion since last night, trying to decide what to do, and if we were to do a video, how would we do it. Neither of us was particularly afraid of being soaked by icy cold water, but both of us stopped short at the idea of appearing in a video. We are comfortable enough in our own skins, but really, we didn't want to have to see ourselves online, doing this stunt. We got together this afternoon, and sure enough, we were soaked to the skin, but that was because we went swimming instead. Let me explain how we came to this decision.
Every time I have listened to someone make his or her statement before the water dump, they challenge some friends, and they say, "Or you can make a donation." Or. I don't like that word "or." The implied message is that dumping ice cold water on one's head is a less onerous event than making a small donation to the ALS Association. Every speech I have heard so far makes it sound like the donation part is skipped because of the ice water. Even if that is not the truth, I don't like the way that sounds. It reminded me of a few years ago, when all the girls wrote the color of their bras as their Facebook statuses, with the idea that it was "raising awareness for breast cancer." Exactly what did that accomplish? Just because you play a game doesn't mean you are doing anything to solve a problem. People are "aware" of breast cancer. What we need are clear recommendations for how to prevent, detect, and survive it. I understand that ALS didn't have the name recognition that breast cancer has, so to some extent, awareness is helpful. I just feel like the script has gone astray here.
I also have noticed that these videos have been very light on details for where exactly one goes to donate. After conferring with my MJM, I decided our visual response to the challenge would address that. Whether you have been challenged or not, if you want to do something meaningful to help this cause, you can go to the ALS Association website, at www.alsa.org. Be one of the millions of new donors. Or you can be a repeat donor-- the MJM actually donated to this association last year, in honor of one of her extended circle of friends who died from ALS.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go find my debit card and make my donation. Feel free to join me. No challenge, no pressure. Just giving you the idea.
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