Charity: A Contrarian View

I have been torn about registering for Cycle for Survival 2013 mainly because I think we have lost perspective on why we support this event in the first place. Two years ago when I first went and participated that Saturday morning in Roslyn I was so captivated emotionally.  It was an assault on the senses I will never forget. We were all there united for a cause I frankly hadn’t known about: Rare Cancers. I covered it one of my blogs and I felt great about my donation as I did about being and cycling with many of the wonderful friends I have met because of spin.  

I talked about my feelings with someone deeply involved in this charity and he felt last year it had lost some of magic of the year prior and since I move intuitively it just confirmed what I felt and why I won’t spin this year. No its not about $ because I know that this fund raiser is essential for many people struck with this killer.  My point is that I will continue to contribute in my own way and that is to donate platelets once a month. I know that I am helping cancer patients with no fanfare  while we wait for the cure.  Cancer is not only a killer it’s also a big business and the latter part makes me sad.  For those that are participating I will keep you in my prayers but for me I will just roll up my sleeves instead.  

It’s unfortunate that charities in this country have become a cottage industry and worse yet it has become a competition about who can raise the most money. Everyone has a cause and we feel compelled to contribute to every one of them. It’s big business and they play on our emotions instead of placing more focus on raising funds in a more congruent way. Every time I go to Petco they ask me for a donation off my debit card or you go to Publix it’s the same thing.  Charities become an emblem for big companies too. Those employed there feel obligated to contribute via payroll deduction. Charity is  a personal decision and some make it so public we feel embarrassed if we don’t throw money at the problem. I know charity is essential but there must be a better way to administer money to those that need it rather than all these emotional ploys that leave us feeling guilty instead of feeling good.  

Dark Corners

Some things are better left unsaid is a cliché I used to hear many years ago when I was growing up as a child of the 60’s. We were much more accepting back then keeping things in the dark. We spoke in hushed tones or not at all about anything that didn’t suit what was considered outside the “norm” of human behavior. The 21st Century of course is a world apart where little is left to the imagination in terms of what might be kept private in a dark corner and what isn’t. 

The court of public opinion still using morals of the 20th Century is quick to try and convict those in high places and hold them out for ridicule without a consciousness of what needs to stay private. The media is forever anxious to explore every dark corner of a person’s life.  They gather information often in a scurrilous fashion that is only used to break people down in terms of their stature and then build them back again if there’s a story in it.  

Everyone has a dark corner things and situations that we are either not proud of or embarrassed about. Everybody plays the fool there’s no exception to the rule* as the lyrics to a 70’s song once filled the airwaves. Why are we so infatuated with looking at people especially celebrities in times of distress, in flagrante delicto   or their latest brush with alcohol or drugs? Mostly its because we want to feel superior to those we think have it better than we do. It is indeed a sad state of affairs when we can’t help looking in dark corners. If we looked in the shadow of our own lives we might not be so quick to judge others.  

*The Main Ingredient, 1972.