We've all seen the videos. Someone is nominated to either donate money to help combat Lou Gehrig's Disease or suffer as a bucket of ice water is poured on them. Do you know someone who has actually donated?
As far as I've seen, this is mostly a trendy thing to do. You get praise for having a bucket of ice water dumped on your head. You've done this because you were given 24 hours to either complete the challenge or donate money towards the ALS foundation. Of course, you keep the trend going by nominating other people to do it. They, in turn, complete, or ignore, the challenge and are unlikely to donate money.
We shouldn't be praising people for doing something to basically avoid donations. It really shouldn't be an either-or situation. If I were nominated for the challenge, I surely wouldn't do it. There's nothing to gain from it. I would be cold and wet and unlikely to donate. It's not that I don't care, I just have many college expenses to worry about. Besides, anyone who would see me post the video has surely seen it done a dozen times. Awareness has been raised and I wouldn't contribute very much. How about people do the video and donate towards the cause? That would be something worth praising. Not only did you give money to the foundation, but you also had ice water poured on you in order to raise awareness. To me, that seems much more effective.
Sure, most of us who participate are struggling students who can barely afford dinner, but many famous people have done the challenge when they can easily afford to donate a few dollars. It seems that there is something more that can be done that will create more support for the cause and less praise for social media fiends. I've seen one person do that challenge and nominate others but she said she would donate $10 for each person who actually accepts the challenge. This is admirable, truly helps the cause, and doesn't take that much effort. Most of the people who have donated the most are those who are personally affected by Lou Gehrig's Disease and already know a lot about it. The alternate take on the ice bucket challenge that I mentioned is a much better way to go about it. You do the challenge, nominate even just one person, and pledge to donate the $10 upon completion. I would definitely complete the challenge if that were the case.
