The problem with giving to charity—with any kind of do-gooding, really—is that it never feels like enough. No matter how much money, time, or effort you invested, you could have invested more. Just think of all the money, time, and effort you've put into things that only benefit you.
Charities like to take that guilt and build on it. You can't really blame them, but it's still annoying to get a ream of address labels attached to a heartfelt donation plea. Regardless of a cause's worthiness, who likes to be manipulated like that?
Though I don't officially represent any charity, I do occasionally try to persuade my readers to donate to the Whittemore Peterson Institute. Currently, WPI is the best hope for people with myalgic encephalomyelitis, fibromyalgia, Gulf War syndrome, and other neuroimmune diseases. These patients have been abandoned by just about everybody else. Not only do they suffer terribly, but many have little or no support. Friends, family, and physicians often don't take their suffering seriously.
So here's my proposition.
Click the donation button below and give some money to WPI. If you're a multibillionaire, then by all means, please feel free to donate one meeeeellion dollars. But if you're a person of slightly more modest means, give whatever you feel comfortable with. Then buy yourself that video game you wanted. I won't judge you. As far as I'm concerned, if you donate to WPI, you deserve to have nice things.
1 comment:
Sweet. You are a heck of a writer, and I hope persuasive.
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