Im sorry my fellow Facebook friends but I just have to post something that is getting under my skin lately ..... This may be offensive to a lot of you as I continue to see this SO MUCH in my feed but those who know me know I have to say it anyway. :) By no means am I detracting from the importance of a cause. I do believe in raising awareness for many, many things. What I dont understand - and maybe some of you can explain to me - is this EPIDEMIC of the ice bucket challenge. I had to look it up to understand the idea behind the entire thing. You dump a bucket of ice water on your head and challenge other friends via social media to also do it within 24 hours. Or donate $100 to ALS. I am unfamiliar with this organization and had to research what exactly it is. (I realize this means the ice bucket challenge is effective in raising awareness in my case). :) What I dont understand is the viral spread of this challenge across the country - including celebrities like Bill Gates, Conan OBrian, and Jimmy Fallon to name a few. This has become a national action!!! For those of you like me who may not know, (and many, many ice bucket challenges fail to mention) ALS is a neurological disorder to which there is no cure and though the brain is functional the body is not. Life expectancy of ALS is 2-5 years and impacts 30,000 Americans today .... and that sounds like a large number. (Alsa.org) I have larger numbers for you, Facebook: 1.5 MILLION - the number of homeless children in America. (Familyhomelessness.org) SIX MILLION - the number of CHILDREN under the age of six living in POVERTY in America. (Nccp.org) 9.7 MILLION - the number of Americans ACTIVELY seeking work and still remain unemployed. (United States Department of Labor) SIXTEEN MILLION - the number of children struggling with hunger on a daily basis in America. (Abcnews.go) To me, these numbers are staggering .... As Americans, as human beings,we should be shocked and ashamed by these numbers. Im sorry but a bucket of ice on the head seems minuscule in comparison. I am by no means diminishing the cause, the disease, or the activists. So please know that is not my intent. I want to bring to your attention that if this MANY people can raise awareness and MILLIONS of dollars to a cause that impacts (in comparison) so few Americans- what can we do to raise awareness and millions to causes that impact so many American children?
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 03:29:33 +0000
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