At first, I wasn't sure what it was all about and thought it was another dumb trend. But after seeing a few and realizing it was all connected to fight ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), I began to enjoy it more and was happy when people were doing it. But then, the power of social media struck again.
Not everyone is going to like something even if it has good intentions or is for a good cause. Those who didn't and weren't afraid to speak their mind turned to social media to express their disapproval. It appeared in many ways such as people saying it was wrong to dump water on yourself rather than donate, memes of Americans being seen as stupid water wasters while others in third world countries are dying of thirst, videos bashing it because of unfortunate injuries or calling it a worthless trend, and even straight out cries for it to stop. My question is that how many people know the story behind it and all the facts?
To give a brief summary, the ice bucket challenge wasn't first linked to ALS, but rather other diseases (cancer being one of them). It wasn't until one man by the name of Pete Frates, a promising baseball player in college, diagnosed with ALS at the age of 27, decided to fight the disease. Not being able to move or talk on his own, he reached out to the Boston community and asked them to do the challenge to raise awareness for ALS. Like when the NFL and other professional sports go pink to raise awareness and funds, the ice bucket challenge was Pete's way to grab peoples' attention.
His friends did it first, then college, then Professional Boston athletes, and pretty soon the world followed suit. Since it began a month ago, the fight against ALS has raised $53 million because of this challenge. In one month! That's more than double what it raised all last year alone!
The major complaint is that some people are dumping the ice water to avoid donation and that's why they should stop. That argument only has a hint of legitimacy. Many people, including celebrities, are dumping and donating, the same as a race for breast cancer. But even if people dump water and don't donate, they have to nominate people. And as you can see, it began with one person, and thanks to social media, the world is now involved. There are many people who didn't want to be showered with water and they donated. In my opinion, awareness for ALS has gone through the roof and even if people don't donate but pour water, they are recognizing ALS and continuing the massive chain which will lead to more donations.
So whether you dump and donate, don't dump and donate, or just dump, thank you. You are putting aside your pride and supporting a fight for a disease you don't suffer from and making an effort to finding an end to this horrible disease.
Here's the link to Pete Frates' story. I urge you to watch. http://www.refinery29.com/2014/08/73354/espn-als-ice-bucket-challenge-video-peter-frates
Not everyone is going to like something even if it has good intentions or is for a good cause. Those who didn't and weren't afraid to speak their mind turned to social media to express their disapproval. It appeared in many ways such as people saying it was wrong to dump water on yourself rather than donate, memes of Americans being seen as stupid water wasters while others in third world countries are dying of thirst, videos bashing it because of unfortunate injuries or calling it a worthless trend, and even straight out cries for it to stop. My question is that how many people know the story behind it and all the facts?
To give a brief summary, the ice bucket challenge wasn't first linked to ALS, but rather other diseases (cancer being one of them). It wasn't until one man by the name of Pete Frates, a promising baseball player in college, diagnosed with ALS at the age of 27, decided to fight the disease. Not being able to move or talk on his own, he reached out to the Boston community and asked them to do the challenge to raise awareness for ALS. Like when the NFL and other professional sports go pink to raise awareness and funds, the ice bucket challenge was Pete's way to grab peoples' attention.
His friends did it first, then college, then Professional Boston athletes, and pretty soon the world followed suit. Since it began a month ago, the fight against ALS has raised $53 million because of this challenge. In one month! That's more than double what it raised all last year alone!
The major complaint is that some people are dumping the ice water to avoid donation and that's why they should stop. That argument only has a hint of legitimacy. Many people, including celebrities, are dumping and donating, the same as a race for breast cancer. But even if people dump water and don't donate, they have to nominate people. And as you can see, it began with one person, and thanks to social media, the world is now involved. There are many people who didn't want to be showered with water and they donated. In my opinion, awareness for ALS has gone through the roof and even if people don't donate but pour water, they are recognizing ALS and continuing the massive chain which will lead to more donations.
So whether you dump and donate, don't dump and donate, or just dump, thank you. You are putting aside your pride and supporting a fight for a disease you don't suffer from and making an effort to finding an end to this horrible disease.
Here's the link to Pete Frates' story. I urge you to watch. http://www.refinery29.com/2014/08/73354/espn-als-ice-bucket-challenge-video-peter-frates
