I've been nominated for the now famous "Ice Bucket Challenge" (IBC) and rather than ramble on at length on Facebook I thought it more appropriate to move my thoughts to a blog page.
Firstly I think the challenge was an inspired piece of fund-raising and tapping the Facebook zeitgeist has hopefully raised millions for the charity. Well done to both the originators and the thousands world-wide who have taken part.
Having said that, I'm not taking part. Why? Lots of reasons.
1: I'm fed-up with FB becoming a request for me to do something someone else thinks a good idea. No, I do not want to play Farmville or Bubble Safari thank you! No I don't want to take a quiz to tell me what mollusc/Hindu God/geological sediment best reflects my personality, nor do I want to share with the world which hell-hole tourist-trap holiday destinations I've failed to avoid. Nor do I want to be told/nominated to do the IBC.
2: The invitation to take the challenge is actually someone telling me how I should spend my money, that I should donate some to charity and, indeed the ALS/MNS charity specifically. Hold on, a cotton-pickin' moment, it's my money- what the hell has what I do with it got to do with you (my wife Liz excepted here, of course!)
3: It's actually worse than telling me what to do with my money - it's bullying/blackmailing me into spending it. If I don't do the IBC then I may be named and shamed on FB etc and be a lesser person. For me personally "does this face look bovvered?". However I've already seen friends on forums agonising on how to best avoid the ICB, worrying about how a simple "No" will be perceived. They are being bullied, pure and simple. Stop it!
4: ALS/MNS isn't particularly high on my charity list. Oh, yes, I know it is a particularly horrible and insidious disease and of course I should contribute to better understanding and hopefully a cure. It's just, thankfully, I don't know of anyone who actually has MNS; of course, I know of several people who have or have had the disease but I don't actually know any of them personally.
On the other hand a close friend has severe Alzheimer's and watching him deteriorate and the look in the eyes of his wife who not only has to see the disintegration of the man she so deeply loves but also has to care for him like a toddler is so movingly pitiful it brings tears to my eyes even as a write this.
Or a close family member whose lives with the daily fear that his next stroke could be of much more significant consequence. Or another friend who, after, several years is still grieving daily for his beloved wife taken so early with cancer. Liz's Mum died of cancer too (albeit a different one) and my own Mum of Myloma. Both our Fathers went with severe respiratory problems.
My personal "thing" is mental health. We see a patient with a broken leg and are full of sympathy and asking "is there anything I can do to help, it must be so awkward", yet a broken mind so often elicits "Pull yourself together, there's nothing wrong with you". One of my male friends, married with children, went through a period of crossdressing and make-up wearing. The middle-class Daily Mail group we were with all tutted and said "How dreadful, should be locked up, shouldn't be allowed out in public" without a single one given any consideration for the sheer mental turmoil he must have been going through.
So sorry folks, Alzheimer's Research, Stroke Association, Cancer Research, British Lung Foundation, British Heart Foundation (heart disease being the UK and World's #1 killer) and MIND all get my money before MNS. Oh, and I've always had a soft spot for the sterling work Barnardos do too.
That said, had any of these IBCing friends had done their challenge as a sponsorship, then of course I would have contributed. We all have our favourite charities and I'm more than happy to contribute to yours if you are fund raising (well, as long is it is not for anything religious or to do with domestic animals).
Right, that's my rant., Got me quite worked up, hot and bothered. Think it's time for an ice cold shower to cool down!
