Seems all a bit out-of-date now, but here it is anyway...
So, there's this whole thing going around for charity called the ice bucket challenge. It's a bit like the no-make-up selfie thing that did the rounds last year, except you get wet. And cold. And essentially look like a tit.
As far as I know, and to the best of my knowledge, no one has nominated me to do it yet, which is good. Because I wouldn't take part even if I was nominated.
Why? I hear you ask. Is it because I am just a kill joy?
No, contrary to the opinion of some, that is not the reason. My reasons are far deeper than that, and by the time I finish this post, hopefully a few of you might agree with what I am going to say.
Firstly and foremost, water is PRECIOUS. There are plenty of places in this huge, great big world of ours that don't have any water. Places where people have to walk ten, twenty, thirty miles sometimes further just to find enough water to live; and they do this EVERYDAY.
I shared a Meme on my Facebook page the other day, and if I remember tonight when I am on the P.C and not my tablet, I will share it on here for all of you. It shows a group of people all participating under the heading: America. (Please note: I am not just singling Americans out here, I know people worldwide are taking part in the challenge, but that IS what the Meme says).
Underneath, a picture is shown of a young joy drinking out of a small, what looks like, bottle top of water, obviously living in some third world country. Below him, the heading reads Africa.
I'll let you think about that for a minute, give you time to let that sink in. Above, all those people are needlessly wasting water, taking part in a challenge admittedly for a good cause, but not thinking of the bigger picture. Below is a young boy who is lucky to have ANY water, let alone the ice cold refreshing water found in the buckets those people are tipping over their heads in a frivolous, thoughtless gesture. No doubt his small mouthful of water will be warm, tepid, and about as far from cool and refreshing as yiu can get, but don't you worry about him, or even spare him a thought. You do your challenge, then make yourself feel good by donating a small amount of money that is just enough to ease your conscience.
Imagine if that was your child? Too far? Well, consider this: we live in an age where there are too many people on the planet and continually dwindling resources. We live in an era of global warming and drastic climate change. Water is a resource. Is it too much to think that in another hundred years, maybe less, water might become an invaluable resource as it becomes scarcer and scarcer to find? Unlikely. Maybe. But not an implausible scenario by a long shot. Okay, the chances are small right now that that little boy could ever be your own child, because through the sheer element of chance you have been fortunate enough to be born in a land where water is in abundance and not a commodity, but how about this? Maybe he could turn out to be one of your children's children? Or your children's children's children? That is a very real possibility.
But that's okay, right? Because when they are sitting there, desperate for water, dying in the midst of drought, they can sit back and watch the funny video grandma once made of her tipping a bucket of water over her head, and laugh about the time when no one ever thought about there might come a time when there wasn't any water.
There are other reasons why the ice challenge is a foolish one. I could mention the article I read today about how you take the risk of developing very real hypothermia from undertaking this
challenge if you are not careful, though at the time you might not notice any symptoms. I could tell you how I read that doing this could cause your heart to skip a beat in sudden shock, and in rare cases be the cause of sudden and unexpected death, but all these pale in significance to one simple fact: water is PRECIOUS.
Maybe not to you, living your life of luxury, but to some.
If you want to donate to a good cause, why do you need an excuse? Donate away, I'm not disputing that. Just please, if yio need to make yourself look like a idiot to do it, find another way.
The argument for this challenge can be made that it is helping raise awareness for A.L.S, but even there I have an issue. Why?
Because although I keep seeing the videos, watching all these celebrities taking part, I so far have seen nobody actually talking
about what A.L.S actually is. I had to look it up, and when I discovered it is Lou Gehrig's disease, at lest then I had more of an inkling, but nobody seems to be saying a lot about the actual disease, unless it is just me not seeing the posts. How then, is that raising awareness?
Likewise, I have seen very few people providing evidence that they have donated. My friend, Lainy, deserves a mention because following her video the other day, I saw her post a photo of her phone showing she had donated her £5 and the response thanking her, but she is one of only a handful. How many are just jumping on the bandwagon without parting with their money? More than a few, I would estimate.
I'm not says everyone is doing this, but I'm sure there are a few.
As it is, for obvious reasons, I'd much rather my money went to a Diabetes charity I'm afraid.
Even then, you won't catch me wasting what is one of some countries most precious resource just to look a fool.
I can do that any day of the week, thank you very much!
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