The Truth About the Ice Bucket Challenge
The ice bucket challenge, like anything that’s managed to capture people’s imaginations, has gotten a lot of haters. Haters are like iron filings, attracted to anyone or anything that threatens to make a difference in the world. Trust me, as a writer, you learn this. Nothing brings people out of the woodwork like actually finishing and publishing a book. A phenomenon, which encapsulates the sad truth that it’s much easier to convince yourself that you’re being productive by critiquing others’ efforts at productivity, than to actually get off the couch and make an effort on your own initiative.
And yes, dumping a bucket of ice on your head doesn’t make you a philanthropist. But was anyone confused on this point? I’m fairly certain that none of these haters are taking time away from their efforts as full time volunteers with the Peace Corps, or Doctors Without Borders, to fill us in on what we’re all doing wrong. Because nothing equips someone for telling people how they’re writing a book wrong, or being a philanthropist wrong, or doing anything else wrong, like having never successfully done those things, themselves.
Nevertheless, we’re all supposed to listen to them because–without that constant stream of positive reinforcement, they might actually have to hold themselves accountable for their own choices. Want to see more philanthropy in the world? Get off your butt and do something. Don’t criticize others’ efforts, because the sheer fact of their actually making efforts is too intimidating.
You don’t score any points in my book by shaming people for trying to do good. You know, we all have to start somewhere. Shaming someone who may have never participated in a challenge like this before is like shaming someone who’s trying to lose weight by telling them that they’re too fat to try. They should remain on the couch, getting fatter, because if you can’t instantly run a marathon the first time you strap on running shoes then why bother? You’re just holding everyone else back with your desire to improve.
Confident people support each other. When I told my friends about my weight loss/new boobs challenge, they were all incredibly supportive. A good friend of mine asked me to join her running team as a team “angel,” someone who pushes the wheelchairs of those less motile team members. As she pointed out, I might not be an olympian but I’m still lapping everyone on the couch. It’s the effort which should be rewarded, not the success. Because what is success, really? For every different person, you’re going to get a different definition. Is the likelihood that I, with my persistent spare tire and heart condition, will never win a gold medal enough to disqualify me from being proud of my own efforts?
We all have to start somewhere. The some good that ice bucket challenge adoptees are achieving is better than the no good that their heckling bystander counterparts are achieving. Trolling “for a cause” is still trolling. Because trust me, the people who feel passionately about how much Aquaman sucks or how much my books suck or whatever feel just as passionately. There’s really no such thing as “but my trolling is more valid than your trolling, because my opinion is more valid than your opinion.” You’re still transforming your passion into tearing down others instead of doing something useful.
And honestly, if seeing people come together for something like the ice bucket challenge is that offensive to you, then you should question what’s wrong with you. Not them. You.
