I sent out notification of a new issue of the newsletter today. It included an announcement that I was going to send all July profits from cafepress.com to charity. I picked Unicef.
Within a hour, I had heard from several people that Unicef supports abortion.
Even though I think Unicef does a lot of great stuff, there are a lot of charities and I’m just not up for the grief. So, I quickly changed to another charity.
This makes me sad.
This is not a thread about abortion. It’s a thread about how complicated life is. If you want to tell me something about Unicef and abortion, email me. Don’t post that here.
Do what you have to, Dale. Seems a shame, though, that some folks can’t ever let go of their fanaticism and just let life slide by in such a small area as a whistle newsletter.
Great newsletter, BTW. I was especially happy to see that the Puny Tune ocarina has returned to active existence. I have an original one that I got on eBay that is quite nice.
And my response to your question is “John Edwards”
When I leave for UK in September I will have some office and business-casual clothing that I am not taking with me. I remember reading about a charity that takes that sort of thing for needy women who are job hunting. Does anyone know of a place like that where I can send those clothes in the fall?
There was a time when I was working in an office with about 50 people and I bought snacks in bulk and sold them at cost to other employees out of an empty area in the office. It was all on the honor system, with a jar full of change for people to pitch in their payments.
A lot of people did not pay, and then some people actually stole money from the pot. I decided to raise the prices and donate the proceeds to charity. This helped a great deal as far as payments. However, as Dale has discovered, picking a charity seems like a simple matter, but it often is not. I used a list from a magazine with the most efficient charities as far as percentage going to programs, vs. percentage to fund-raising and overhead. Each month, I moved down the list. When I got to a certain charity that shall remain nameless, I got a lot of remarks and crude jokes. No good deed goes unpunished…
Yes. Life is too complicated. (Sometimes you just gotta tell 'em “tough.”)
But then, isn’t everything? Work is generally too complicated, at least at times.
Raising children is, undeniably, too complicated.
There are some people who have a better sense of how not to complicate their lives before they, (as I have done,) bite off a bit too much…but I don’t know where they got their early warning system.
It’s good when you can relish the down times, and hang in there for the crazy times.
Maybe it will help to delineate what about life is too complicated.
Dale started with sleuthing out backgrounds of charitable institutions. There have been real eye-openers about the United Way, American Cancer Society and most recently, the Nature Conservancy. Too complicated.
In an Andy Roony-esque vein I will offer:
Figuring out computer upgrades of systems and software is too complicated. Why o why do I have to learn so much soon-to-be-obsolete vital info??
Having passwords and PINs and answering services for various accounts and telephones is too complicated, especially when they expire for security reasons.
Understanding school boards and education for your kids is too complicated.
Anticipating and installing a sprinkler system with all the new gadgets has me stumped.
Corollary to above: anything with a timer is too complicated, especially after a power failure.
Picking out a damn car is too complicated.
Picking out a mattress is too complicated.
Picking out TIRES for your car is too complicated.
“Life” and “complicated” – flip sides of the same coin … and yet, when I had major car problems, work-related problems, money flowing out of my pockets like water over Niagra Falls, 80 year-old parents with some health problems (I do thank God I still HAVE my parents) all in one month, my sister showed me how uncomplicated my life truly is. She doesn’t even know she opened my eyes. She was playing a game online and chatting with one of her online buddies. She told me her friend had a quadraplegic child – then said she actually had twins born 3 months early, both have cerebral palsy, the one a quadraplegic.
My! What a care-free life I truly do have in comparison.
~Judy, the grateful
PS- Dale, it’s your board, your choice of charity. Some people can always find something bad in anything, if they look hard enough.
Life is full of complications,
Abstract thoughts and situations,
Some pull one arm, some another.
Try to help, but harm a brother.
Reaching, grasping, latching, retching,
Feel like breaking, keep on stretching.
In my area there is a group called Community Ministries of Montgomery County. It is made up of representatives from about 30 to 40 churches in the area. They take donated clothing for their “store”. People may obtain a certificate from their minister showing that they are in need. They then take it to the store and shop for 30 minutes. They are no charges to anyone ever. There is probably something like this in your community. If not someone should start one.
I gave up political and religious discussions years ago when I realized that I no longer had the will- and/or brain-power to waste on topics that were way too confusing for me to understand, and that I was usually apathetic about anyway. So now I vote my conscience, avoid evangelists and try to treat others with respect. I do still have issues that I feel strongly about but I see no reason to try to convince others to believe the way I do. After all, I might be wrong.
Mike
…I’ve just accepted the fact that life IS complicated, but the trick is not to dwell on the negative stuff when life’s bad (‘cause no matter how bad, it can’t last forever), and not to take it for granted when life’s treatin’ you good ('cause the good stuff doesn’t last forever either).
Good luck.