The Giving That Won't Go Away |
Nov 4, 2009 |
Here's one of the strangest fundraising ploys I have ever seen or heard of. This is from a website called "My Life Is Average." According to the website, it is a place where people can submit stories about "everyday mediocrity. It is a place to post the mundane things in your life, and read about what makes life normal for other people." People get two or three sentences to record 'normal' life or funny occurrences in an otherwise average life. This particular event deals with fundraising:
The other day my parents came home to find their lawn covered in pink, plastic flamingos. They found a note on the door explaining that they could pay $5 to have the flamingos removed for good, or $10 dollars to have them moved to the neighbor's yard. Turned out it was a class fundraiser. I love my school.
Sure, it's funny. It sounds more like a cute college prank than a fundraiser, but I find this curious. It is amazing what people will think of to raise money.
We live in a culture that thinks blackmail, 'slave auctions' on Ebay, every type of "thon" imaginable, and even pink flamingos can be fundraisers. We live in a culture of giving, but it has become a giving without sacrifice. We see it as the government's job to care for the poor. We can chip in as needed if we want. We see giving as a new form of entertainment, with everything from mega-concerts for the poor to building extreme houses with celebrities 'fundraising' for their favorite cause.
All the live aid in the world did not win the war on poverty, nor has it made significant headway. Does the opinion of a TV star or rock star really make that big of a difference when it comes to the needy?
Rather than pay for the pink flamingos to go away, I would pay a few bucks to make this new culture of giving go away.
