Blogging marathon
I read on another blog that she's going to participate in a Blogging Marathon. I'm not telling you who, because I don't want to encourage her. She's not the only one. 215 people have signed up. I think it's very silly. Basically folks give you pledges if you blog every 30 minutes for 24 hours. I'm already available 24 hours a day 7 days a week. I hope it doesn't break your heart that it's not for you. I hope 24 hour marathons are not a new trend. A couple months ago, I was asked to donate and run for a 24 hour relay for some charity that I don't remember. I liked the charity, but I refused to donate or walk, and I've tried to block which one it was, so I wouldn't be prejudiced against them. I guess my mind block worked.
Now don't get me wrong. I'm not against sacrifice. And I'm all for exercise marathons, because they give people motivation to get into better shape and also fundraise. But meaningless sacrifices just give people the false sense they're doing something great. Instead they could have done the same thing with less effort and spent the extra time making a meaningful sacrifice. If your charity is for sick children, why not spend just a fraction of the time you would have spent blogging 30 minutes for 24 hours to bring a meal to your local Ronald McDonald house. Or if it's for homeless people or a anti-hunger charity, serve soup at a homeless shelter.
No I'm not doing any of these things. If you've been reading, you'll know that dealing with my special needs son's day-to-day needs is about all the sacrifice I can handle right now. But you can bet that when I have the bandwidth to make other sacrifices, I will not consider blogging to be one of them. C disagrees with me. What do you think?
4 comments:
I think you have a very valid point, but I also think that charities need to find ways to get money however it works. If bloggers are willing to pay other bloggers for charity, and it goes to a good cause, sure. It's their wasted time. Do I wish they'd choose something more hands-on? More relevant? Absolutely. But soup kitchens scare lots of people, as does interacting with strangers face to face, and they're on their computers all the time anyway...
I've recently started volunteering again. I'm only working with one group right now. It's different stuff than I've ever done before, but it still feels good. And there are other groups on my list, groups I'm interested in for a different set of reasons, that I plan on helping within the next 6 months.
By the way, I'm glad Special K climbed safely. She's so active, I bet she'd take to gymnastics classes in another year or two!
And just for perspective, wouldn't you rather have her be a ragamuffin than a "pink" girl? (A label from when I taught daycare - those are the girls that have to have everything frilly and lace and white or pink, the girly girls who somehow are already scared of getting dirty).
Gah - I don't know why the comment about Special K showed up here instead of on the next entry.
I'm going to quit spamming your journal now.
I love hearing from you, Plantgirl! I post questions, because I like reading folks' answers. And your answers are interesting.
What are you volunteering for?
Special K's already taking gym. :) She loves it and I have mixed feelings about it.
Special K alternates between pink girl and ragamuffin. Some days she insists on wearing everything pink or purple and rips off her clothes with the cry "It's dirty, Mama!" I don't know which I'd rather have. That's prolly going to be another blog entry someday.
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