I have been away from the office for a good 10 days. By away from the office, I mean I didn’t have cell reception (I still have a dumb phone) and our GPS wouldn’t even spot our vacation spot. I did have some spotty WiFi connection with my iPod at the vacation spot to check things online once in a while.
One message I received was that I was challenged to the ALS Ice Bucket on the head thing. My first thought was ‘not me, not now.’ My second though was still a big, fat, ‘no.’ It was an easy decision not to participate. Why? Because it’s not going to do anything to cure the disease.
How many walks, rides, 5ks, and community events do we have to raise awareness and research dollars to end a disease? If you live in a city big enough like Colorado Springs, you can probably find one every weekend. A ton of time, effort, and resources go into making these events successful and what do we have to show for it?
Back in the 60’s, Nixon fired up the nation to raise $1 billion to end cancer. The next decade we needed another billion, and every decade after that, it seems that we need more money to do more research. It’s not just cancer. You name a diagnosis, there’s a fundraising effort to support research to cure that disease. Billions upon billions have been raised in the name of cures and research and we get sicker and sicker. It’s not working.