Missing the Point

Today I found myself locked in a somewhat garrulous exchange about how I should have shown up for Cycle for Survival. My friend kept insisting despite my thought that charity is a personal choice that it was an obligation on my part to participate in the cause that unites many of us at the health club I belong to.  I tried to explain that for personal reasons I choose to do my part donating platelets for cancer victims. In this way I feel my charity comes from my blood instead of from my pocketbook. I have no quarrel with how anyone chooses to partake in a chosen charity but no one no one can tell me how to do it.  I have explained why I feel Cycle for Survival was not my choice but my friend insisted that I was missing the point. My arrogance was boiling over but instead of letting it scald anyone including myself I held my tongue. 

Maybe I am just too long in the tooth and combined with the fact that I am an alcoholic I resent anyone telling me what I must or should have done. Fact is I have participated in my health club with tremendous enthusiasm especially over the last 3 years. And for anyone to tell me that my absence from that particular gathering was a gaffe on my part seems even to the casual observer overblown. I like to think though that I am open and not closed off to anyone’s opinion but in this case my opinion rules because it’s mine not anyone else’s.