"More
than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness."
- Charlie Chaplin
A few weeks ago a friend
challenged me to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and this got me thinking about
how everyone can do something around them to make the world a brighter place. I
won’t lie, I’d never heard of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) before seeing
all the videos of people pouring buckets of ice-cold water over their heads on
my social media feeds. You’d think I’d know that Stephen Hawking suffers from
ALS at least but nope, total ignorance on my part. ALS is a disease very far
removed from my centre of attention.
The people behind the
Ice Bucket Challenge, the ALS Association are looking to create a world without
ALS. This, of course, requires money for researching cures for the disease and
supporting people already living with it and affected by it. This is a noble
cause and they used the power of social media to come up with a fun way to
raise the funds they need for this good work. I commend this and it’s great to
see a charitable drive gain so much momentum and create a stir. This is the
sort of cause that people should donate money to or invest some of their time in
whether they do it with a video or not. But you should always know exactly what
it is that you are supporting.
The interwebs are a
vibrant place where people vehemently share their opinions and very soon memes
were making the rounds that people are wasting water whilst many regions in the
world don’t have enough drinking water. Some celebrity personalities also
declined the challenge on the grounds that there are reports stating that the
ALS Association is involved in animal testing. Both these points are valid:
wasting water is foolish and supporting an organisation that runs tests for
cures for diseases on animals is not something everyone can agree on (and
that’s a whole different and important argument).
The former issue made
me think of my beloved mother warning me not to waste food or drink as a child because
children in China are starving . . . but
how would my not wasting the food ease their plight? I always thought. We
live in South Africa and there were children starving in our neighbourhood that
I could have given that food to. As far as animal testing is concerned, I don’t
know whether the ALS Association is involved in this or not but it highlights
the point that people shouldn’t blindly donate to organisations. As someone
trying to ease the burden of other human beings you must go a bit further than
just giving money to an organisation and invest some of your time finding out
whether it shares the same values as you. This is also another reason I like
the idea of volunteering because it gives you a first-hand experience of work
being done by charities and other such institutes.
I took up the Ice
Bucket Challenge but I did not support the ALS Association because I felt that
there are causes closer to me that I can focus on. The world is in dire need of
a lot of cleverness to solve many of its issues. Children should not be
starving in China, South Africa or anywhere else when there is more than enough
food to go around. There are enough resources for everyone on our planet but
the problem is access. Clever minds are needed to enable such access but
kindness is also needed. I am intelligent but I doubt I will be figuring out
how to solve the issue of a child in China’s hunger anytime soon (sorry, mom)
but I sure can give a hungry child who is right down the road from me something
to eat. I took up my Ice Bucket Challenge in a spirit of being kind to all my
fellow humans and helping where I can. I love food and I am the sort of person
who packs a lot of it for work and sport so I will pack just a few more
sandwiches and fruit to give to people.
 |
| Stories were my refuge as a child. |
Giving sandwiches
doesn’t solve the underlying problems though. I don’t have much money to give
but I also don’t think that would help as much as me giving of my time. I love
books and when I was growing up my family was poor (we’re only a little less so
now) and stories were my refuge; they comforted me and taught me some wisdom.
In addition to my grandmother and mother I was raised by stories and our local
library was my second home. I can share that with children and will do so. I am
privileged to work at the Children and Youth editorial office of one of South
Africa’s largest publishing houses and to volunteer on the executive board
(this is a whole lot less fancy than it sounds) of an organisation that seeks
to get rid of the problem of illiteracy in South Africa. These are wonderful
platforms from which to help nurture a hunger for learning in children and thus
equip them with knowledge to support themselves as they grow older. I pledge my
efforts and time to these ventures because that is a role I am most equipped to
play in trying to make the world a better place.
I think most people are
looking for opportunities to be kind but miss them in their daily lives because
they think their acts of kindness may be too insignificant or they are daunted
by the really large acts they really want to be doing. Look at all the
opportunities on social media that are wasted! People will like and share the
crap out of a status highlighting conflicts across the world and how we really
should be doing something. Sometimes people even emotionally blackmail each
other with posts about how you support something heinous like rape if you don’t
share some picture. I hate stuff like that but it shows that people want to be
kind, there is a spark of it albeit somewhat misguided. This whole Ice Bucket
Challenge proves that social media can be a powerful tool to create awareness
of issues and even to raise money for them but you still have to go out and be
kind and generous in your daily life. Do small things for people and if you can,
do big things. Just try and extend a helping hand whenever you can. That is my
challenge to you.
The world is full of
injustices like hunger, rape, murder, sexism, racism, corruption, war and many
issues like disease and natural disasters. Lend your support wherever you can.
You don’t have to be Superman or Wonder Woman (unless you can, then totally do
that) but your small acts of kindness and even your cleverness can go a long
way.
