I'm not sure I can take an earlier of those doe-eyed TV spots: big distended bellies, flies, dirt: sad, sad. I can almost smell the funk through the screen. It's probably the channels I'm surfing during the wee hours after working all day and into the night. I think I'm doing good stuff, but then I see those kids, my heart sinks into the fathoms where strange glowy creatures swim in a deep space world – right here on earth.
I wrote a note on one of those social media channels one night after seeing one of those spots. Immediately I got pinged and discovered a few friends were also awake. We lamented for a moment, switching messages back and forth.
If this was the 80's the American flag would have been raised across our TV screens and we'd be watching the late night ant races. But it's the new millennium and things are different: I'm not a luddite anymore and information travels at the speed of light, like those ants, across data networks only imagined in Ray Bradbury short stories.
What does that chubby, bearded fellow do with the change he's asking for? I think he's an actor so I'm not even sure he does anything except read a few lines and pull those deeply entwined heartstrings. For all I know he's just a lobbyist for a TV fundraising cartel.
I woke up early, later that morning and checked my messages. Some guy, who was not even a guy I knew, joined in on our conversation and started some 'I want to save the distended belly children of East Africa' fundraise drive. He had a webpage and an HTML form ready to fill out to 'donate right now'. (I think I only got three hours of sleep before the alarm shouted angry messages into my dreams)
Appropriately fundraising online is pretty big. He's kind of in the industry – environmental advocate – so he just signed up and now I really do not have an excuse not to check it out. Sometimes even participate. I do not want to sound like a layabout – when it comes to fundraising stuff – but for the most part I just pick up trash at my local beach.
I went to work and sat down at my table with my laptop. I have a nice view looking out some large plate glass widows. A skylight even spills fresh sunlight into our space. Good digs. There's elbowroom, no cubicles and a lot of smart people doing cool things. I'm very lucky. Seems like even more of a reason to spend some cash on people who do not understand life the way I do.