I have been trying to form my opinion on this Ice Bucket Challenge over the past week. The volume of posts in my news feed and the amount of articles criticizing it has made me tired. The ALS association appears to be a solid organization doing lots of good and I support the increase of awareness of this specific cause along with a broad awaking of people wanting to donate and create change. A great deal of money was raised but I will never know if my network did if for the cause or for the Facebook Likes. I choose to not accept the challenge and the social pressure in doing so has made me feel a little bit guilty, I think this is the part I really dislike about the whole phenom of it. I regularly support causes I find important, none of which I have done for the sole purpose of letting my friends know.
I think these mega-charities like ALS and the American cancer Society are worthy of our support. I think we should also each have our individual organizations we invest our effort in to help create change. I don’t “donate”, I Invest. I invest in causes and people. More importantly I think we should all consider the change we can create in our daily lives by investing. Help someone today to make there day and lives better.
I changed this one lady’s day once… My brother and I had worked a long Friday, sat in traffic with a 5 hour drive ahead of us across the deserted desert of Arizona. We were late by a few hours to where we needed to be already, I was running on two hours of sleep and had already gone through a few RedBulls. We are on a two lane deserted highway 50 miles in between any city that had a gas station and noticed a Honda Civic that was parked on the side of the road. As we approached I noticed the flat tire and the young lady holding her cell phone in the air in attempt to get cell service to call AAA or her Boyfriend. She was in luck that day because I stop for everybody… and because I have a certain set of skills that can fix just about anything… and because my first car was the same model Honda that I had taken Snow tires off and on at least 100 times. She had a look of confusion when we stopped, it quickly transitioned to a look of fear when she took notice of two males with thick facial hair and cowboy boots rapidly approaching her and her car. We didn't have time to chit chat and I knew what the problem was so I kindly asked her nothing more than to open her trunk. I handed my brother the lug wrench without instruction so he could get started on the lug nuts while I grabbed the jack and the spare tire. The lady was awestruck by our efficiency but stood back in silence as we went to work. We had the car up, wheel swapped out and back down in less than 60 seconds. We loaded up the tools and the flat and I gave her a smile and told her to have a great evening. She was so confused on what just had happened she couldn't respond. Twenty seconds later when we were opening the doors to my truck she yelled out “CAN I GIVE YOU SOME MONEY?”. To which we simultaneously responded in hysterical laughter, hopped in and took off. I don’t need, want or expect anything in return. I enjoy helping others and I enjoy giving.
My real hope for this whole thing is that it brings just a little long term awareness to the fact that there are causes and people out there in the world that need our help through our disposable income and sweat equity. This is only one piece of the pie, there are people next to you today that you can also help. Do it for no reason other than you can. So if this trend raises awareness and a few dollars I support it. Just don’t do it for the likes.