Well the ALS ice bucket challenge... it has gone viral and like anything in our world there is a lot of garbage that goes along with "social media fads". So here is my stance!
I did it. Why did I dump a bucket of ice cold water on my head? To raise awareness, awareness that there are people out there suffering from a disease. A horrible disease that includes muscle's rapid progressive weakness resulting in difficulty moving, speaking, swallowing, and breathing. I am positive it would be awful knowing something with ALS, and that is why I participated in the challenge. I am not in support of the way they use the funds, or the possibility of them using embryo stem cells for research. In saying that, I don't have all the information and it is not my place to judge what they are doing. But it is my choice to donate or not, peer pressure or not. I don't want to donate to them but there are hundreds of other charities I wholeheartedly support.
Nevertheless, I am proud of the phenomenon of hundreds of people raising awareness. My reasoning is simple... our North American society is totally absolutely consumed with ourselves and our own problems. I am excited that so many people are standing together, acknowledging that there is serious pain and suffering in other people's lives. In all honesty, I wish it was for something more serious. I wish we could raise money to solve world hunger (which the amount of money the Western world spends on perfume in a year would cover.) I wish we could raise awareness for many other <bigger> issues. Not to say ALS isn't terrible, but there are far fewer people dying from ALS than the lack of clean water. That being said, I am thankful that for a short while many people have done something to realize they are not the only person with problems. Everyone is dealing with something, and we don't see what is happening in their heart. So let's band together and be a community to support one another. And encourage other's to do the same!
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