I was just approached in the office to buy a raffle ticket for $10, three for $25. The prize was a trinket that I’d never keep. The reason for the raffle: a guy who works here was just diagnosed with prostate cancer and was headed into surgery today. One of his friends/co-workers was collecting money for his family, just a bit extra to cover take-out and gas back and forth to the hospital. It probably won’t amount to much, but it’ll help. I’m sure it’ll be really, really appreciated too.
It’s Movember this month and I didn’t carve a moustache from my beard. I probably
should have and now feel a stab of guilt for not raising money for finding a cure. Prostate cancer. Life’s great kick in the balls. I’m really lucky; I haven’t been forced to think about cancer very much. All my friends who have had cancer have survived and are still surviving. Invincibility is still attached to my aging youth. But cancer, or whatever fate, is out there and none of us know if or when we’ll have to face our battle. Will your community be there for you when it happens? Is giving now just flimsy good-karma insurance?
When I consider the raffle, my mind moves to the big campaigns – the posters and runs,
pink ribbons and testimonies from survivors. All this to encourage society to search for a cure. I’ll admit to not giving as much money as I should. Logically, I know how important it is. Emotionally, I feel for the millions of people this affects. But when I see the campaign by the Canadian Cancer Society I don’t feel connected. I don’t know the people.
Ah, and there it is.
There’s the problem.
My problem is the problem so many face. We don’t know people in Mogadishu who are struggling with drought and joblessness. I don’t know anyone in the favelas of Sao Paulo either who don’t have clean running water. There are so many people in need, so many folks on the street in urban Canada, struggling communities in our north…the list is overwhelming. Who gets my charity dollars and how much should I give?
I’ve chosen to buy the raffle ticket this time. I felt moved to do so. It was direct. It was for a guy who works with us. If I didn’t give, I don’t think I’d be doing justice to my community. It was real.
But what of the others? Where do I go for these answers? I feel like I’m there, ready to give. Now what?
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Awesome masthead photo by derekp