The Check is in the Mail

Just about a year ago, I announced the formation of My Polar Bare Club. To quote myself, here’s how it works:

For everyone who signs on to be a follower of the Nobby (known as a Nobbit), between now and midnight December 31, 2014, I pledge a nickel to charity for each day I plunge into the pool. To clarify, the Nob currently has 25 Nobbits, all of whom are automatically enrolled in the Polar Bare Club. If there were no more Nobbits going into 2015, that means every day I jump into the pool would be worth $1.25 to charity, which may sound laughable, but given that I was in the pool 337 days in 2014, that comes out to $421.25. If we double the Nobbits, that would make it $842.50…and if we get 100 new Nobbits…well, then we’re talking some pretty serious coin and you should understand why the baseline is only a nickel.

Alas, the club was a failure on multiple fronts. The first being that my dips into the pool…skinny or otherwise…were considerably fewer than anticipated. That was due to a combination of factors…extensive travel, abnormally stormy southern California weather, and a troublesome pool filter. In the end I only got into the pool 202 days this year.
To compound the failure, no one new signed up to be a follower of the blog, aka a Nobbit. Why that’s so is hard to figure. Activity at the blog actually grew in 2015, and before pitchers and catchers arrive for spring training in 2016 (I’m looking at you, David Price) The Nob should top 200,000 in page views. Why, among all this thousands who visit the site, not a single one signed up to be a follower…and thus a passive contributor to a worthy charity is a bit beyond me. I’ve heard frequent complaints over the years that Google’s Blogger tool which hosts The Nob not only fails to be user-friendly but is outright hostile to users. I wish I understood more about this and could then remedy the situation, but so far I’m at a loss, and may have to consider taking the blog elsewhere if Google can’t be more helpful.
Nonetheless, a pledge is a pledge and with that as my maxim I’ve written out a check for $252.50 as a donation to Doctors Without Borders, which I had designated as the recipient when I announced the club last year. As it turns out, it was another year fraught with danger for the Nobel Peace Prize winning organization. Not only was it on the front lines in the battle against Ebola in West Africa but its humanitarian presence in the most hostile environments on earth put it in direct line of fire in 2015--October 3, it lost hospital, staff, and patients to American bombs in Afghanistan; October 15, it lost a hospital in Yemen to Saudi Arabian bombs; November 28, a hospital and numerous lives lost to Syrian bombs.
It is humbling to consider the bravery and compassion that Doctors Without Borders volunteers stand for…without arms or armor. If one could dare claim kinship with such people, it would be enough to feed one’s pride in our species for the length of the new year at least. 
I won’t take that dare, but I will surrender to my predilection for grand Don Quixote-like gestures and commit to another year of My Polar Bare Club in hopes that next year at this time the check I put in the mail to Doctors Without Borders is bigger and better. Until then, thanks to the 25 Nobbits who made this year’s check possible.