|
Soapbox Philosophy: Ice Bucket Challenge? That’s cool
Op-Ed · September 11, 2014
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge swept through West Branch in the past two weeks, with many individuals, children and community leaders dumping buckets of near-freezing water on their heads to participate in some good-natured fun and to raise money for an affliction also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
The success of this challenge is that, as of Monday, it has raised more than $100.9 million in just over a month. It involves only a few minutes of time, things you can find around the house and a lot of people see it as a mild dare.
More than 3 million people have sent in donations averaging about $33 to come up to that amount. One wonders what that amount of money can do to further research and care for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a disease that degenerates the neurons that carry commands from the brain to the spinal cord and then to muscles throughout the body.
How many of us, including myself, had to look this up because we only became interested when we saw our friends and family dropping cold water down their backs?
According the the ALS Association, the disease affects about 30,000 Americans at any given time, mostly between the ages of 40 to 70. The average life expectancy is two to five years.
So while ALS is not as common as many forms of cancer, it is a scary and deadly disease. We certainly learned a lot about it in the past month.
I’m impressed by the amount of time and effort some people have put into their challenge. My son, Connor, and I, both took the challenge a few days apart, just gathering the family in the back yard and recording the event on cell phones. But some folks living in apartment buildings chose to stand in bathtubs. One guy pumped water through what looked like a chute coming off a farm combine, dumping what must of been thousands of gallons of water on himself. Another guy filled up a shovel on an excavator and had a friend push the lever. A friend from high school jokingly made a “bucket” in a basketball hoop with a bag of ice, then struck a manly pose while his daughters ran in and splashed him.
No one watching these videos, without previous knowledge, will have any idea what an “ice bucket” actually is. I have never seen such a wide array of buckets before. Salad bowls, paint cans, wash buckets, pots and pans, cake covers, plastic totes. I think the only real ice bucket I saw was used by actor Patrick Stewart.
People stood in their back yards, sat on a lawn chair in their driveways, stood on boat docks or on sandy shores. People did it alone, with their families or in large groups. The West Branch High School football coaching staff did it after practice, surrounded by players who dumped coolers of ice water on them. At Meet the Teams Night, school leaders had buckets of ice water poured on them by cheerleaders. Moms and Dads had their children pour it on.
Challenge-takers screamed, yelled, huffed and puffed, hopped and jumped and ran.
I’ve got one beef, though: Don’t wait until the last second to add the ice to a bucket of lukewarm water. Add that water early, at least before you give your speech to the camera!
Anyway, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge will, eventually, fade away. And hopefully the money raised will find some amazing treatments and, hopefully, cures for this disease. I would be thrilled to hear that the research uncovers treatments that can have a positive impact on a myriad of other afflictions, like cancer.
I imagine that there are other groups wishing they can come up with an idea like this one, generating another wave of fun and giving to a good cause.
It was fun to see all the videos on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, though I’ve noticed fewer and fewer in the last few days.
It was fun to take the challenge, and hopefully many of you got to do the same.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
