Thursday, September 12, 2013

Do it for a Cause

heads up: no, I am not asking for money or donation in the post below

What does not shaving at all for a month, running for miles, walking barefoot on the streets of New York city and Bon Jovi singing have in common? All of them are done for causes. The good ones.

Expressions like "For a good cause", "Raise awareness" and "Donate to support" are heard and seen everywhere. As natural as it may seem and must feel for an average American citizen, the abundance of events "for a good cause" has had me feeling lost and "not getting it" for some time.

Allow me to pause here and note that I have absolutely nothing against any of the above mentioned. Selflessness is one of the most beautiful human traits, and caring is a what I sometimes I wish I had more of..

But back to my point, I find it curious how pretty much anything can be turned into the "I'll do it for a cause" act. I guess seeing how A can affect B and wondering if there could be doing too much and going too far when referring to charity is what I am having hard times with. I get how a concert or an album sales can impact the cause by donating of profits to it. But what I don't understand is how not shaving a face or armpits (a real charity, not kidding), not drinking water or not wearing shoes can benefit anyone or anything.

Can someone enlighten this ignorant immigrant here?

2 comments:

  1. My guess is, that some gestures like not shaving for a month ("Movember") just serve the idea of moral support for a good cause or to raise awareness for a disease like in this case: prostate cancer. It's to remind each other to take care of yourself and have yourself checked out by a physician regularly. That's how I understand it. But I'm an immigrant too, so how should I know... ;)

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    1. Dan,
      Definitely! "Supporting the cause" is exactly the case that got me so puzzled in the beginning, it's just not something I heard about often in Belarus and this is why the idea seemed so foreign to me.
      My thoughts are: Ok, I am not going to shave my legs to support the cause. Will I actually do what the cause is for, e.g. go for a med check up etc?

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