…In Which I Go Soak My Head

/ Diane Henders

I didn’t even know the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was a ‘thing’ until my sister nominated me (read ‘bullied me into it’).

But it’s for a good cause – I had a friend whose mother died of ALS, so I’d love to see some progress in the fight against this degenerative and 100% fatal disease. If you haven’t heard of ALS or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (also known as ‘Lou Gehrig’s Disease’ in North America and ‘Motor Neuron Disease’ in the UK), there’s more info at the ALS Association’s website:  http://www.alsa.org.

I was slightly distracted by the thought of dousing myself with ice water on video, so I wasn’t quite as coherent as I had hoped when I reeled off my little blurb.  I forgot to mention that I’ll donate as well because, while it may give some folks great satisfaction to watch me make a fool of myself, my brain freeze won’t benefit the ALS Association directly.

I’m not sure how good the audio will be, so here’s a short summary of what I was babbling about:

The rules of the challenge are that after you take your ice shower, you get to nominate some other deserving folks.  (Apparently my sister is harbouring some unresolved hostilities that we should probably address.)  If your victims friends choose to accept the challenge, they have to do it within 24 hours and post a video as proof.

I didn’t name names since I’m posting here on my blog, but if you’re just spoiling for an excuse to tell your friends to go soak their heads, consider this your official challenge… and don’t forget you have to do it yourself before you get to nominate anybody else!  (If you do, post a link to your video in the comments – I’d love to see it.)

But first you’ll need to stop laughing at me…

P.S. I’ve read a lot of criticism about this challenge.  People decry it because ALS is not a common disease so we should give to other charities that will benefit more of the population/it’s a fad and the people who participate are somehow morally and intellectually inferior to those who sit back and criticize/the ALS society doesn’t allocate a large enough portion of donations to research and patient support so the money isn’t being used efficiently/millions of people are dying of war and starvation and disease in other countries and it’s our fault because we should have donated there instead/yadda, yadda. 

I agree that it’s preferable to channel our donations to causes where the funds will benefit the most people and be used most effectively, but I don’t believe this challenge is somehow taking donations away from other charitable causes.  It’s a one-time thing, and people are impulsively donating.  That won’t prevent them from donating to the causes they regularly support, but it may get some people who don’t regularly donate to do so… and if it builds a culture of giving, that seems like a good thing.  I donate to a bunch of charities regularly, so I doubt I’ll bring about the apocalypse by dumping a bucket of ice water over my head and sending a few bucks to ALSA.  And yes, it’s a silly challenge, but how often do grown-ups get to be silly in public?  (Well, unless they’re me.  I’m silly most of the time.)  Anyway, I figured it’s good fun for a good cause.

21 thoughts on “…In Which I Go Soak My Head”

  2. I think it’s wonderful that people are “challenging” each other to help support ALS, and in fact, any other illness or disease that needs funding. I can’t for the life of me understand why some people want to whine and cry over any one particular charity getting attention, more than others at the moment or not, it’s just dumb. If those people aren’t happy then start their own challenge to get people to donate. Oh well, funding can’t always come from a government program. We need to make it happen ourselves.
    After spending the better part of a couple weeks having no computer time, no reading time to speak of or even watching t.v. more than a short time each day, I’m wondering if there’s a charity for severe eye strain! (along with using OTC eye drops that worked against me). It’s been my own section of Hell I’ll tell ya’. Couldn’t figure out why my eyes just kept watering constantly and blurring to the point of not seeing clearly at all. Found out my last eye exam for glasses was wrong, both lenses were given the same prescription when one was clearly different than the other. It’s a mess for sure. Finally I’m getting over it and used to the new lenses. Hopefully no lasting damage was done.
    BTW, loving the progress on the new book. LOL No way am I going to miss that. !

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    • Yikes! That’s scary when your eyes suddenly go wonky for no apparent reason. I’m glad it’s sorted out now – what a screw-up, and how frustrating that it was somebody else’s mistake! I hope no lasting damage was done, too.

      I’m having great fun with Book 9! My only problem is finding enough time to write with all of the vegetables coming in from the garden and needing to be processed now. Even while I’m blanching beans, my brain is busy writing – makes for some screw-ups of my own sometimes… 😉

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  3. I wonder if the naysayers know just how horrible a disease ALS is … having the body slowly shut down while the mind stays clear … I salute you for being a part of this huge movement that has helped put ALS in the spotlight. Any means of raising money for research, support and education of any serious disease is okay in my book. You are a good sport and have a good heart!

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    • Thank you for your support! 🙂

      It is a cruel and horrible disease, for both its victims and for the families who have to watch their loved one die by inches. One of my other readers commented on my Facebook page that researchers have isolated the gene anomalies that cause ALS, so that’s a hopeful sign. It would be wonderful if this one-time flurry of donations provided enough research funding to develop a treatment, or better yet, a cure.

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  4. Theres a lot of negativity surrounding that for sure. Some of it makes logical sense. But i did hate the fact that people felt they could bully me into doing it and automatically i was like fuck no lol. I do buy extra food for the food bank most shopping trips so i bought a lil extra last time. thats my donation 😀

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  6. That was awesome, Diane. Good for you! I agree with your P.S. at the end of the post, and what you said here: “and if it builds a culture of giving, that seems like a good thing”—Absolutely!

    Now go get some hot tea!

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    • Thank you! I was afraid I was going to have to spend the rest of the day in a sauna, but it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared. Probably something to do with the fact that it takes a long time for anything to penetrate this thick skull of mine… 😉

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  8. My first impulse was to mention something about dealing with frigidity issues less publicly. But I am ‘way too swayve to do something that thoughtless and crass. Usually… 🙂

    Nicely done.

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