I am the type of person who refuses to wear personal causes on my sleeve. Rubber bracelets imprinted with slogans for a good cause are, to me, more of a fashion statement than a friendly call to (braceleted) arms for support.
I don't doubt there are those who wear them to honor a loved one, and, of course, I don't begrudge them. But, a few years ago, LIVESTRONG bracelets were all the rage, and many non-profits began producing these wrist ringlets in droves with their personal messages stamped in select colors.
How many people can honestly say they still wear a LIVESTRONG bracelet?
They essentially became last year's Prada bag and were tossed aside for a Hurley t-shirt or ballet flats. Fashion drives non-profit causes, but it also fuels our desire to pick up the latest social issue and drop it when the media and its doppelgangers craft a better-fitting cause to wear.
Hurricane Katrina, anyone? Blown away by scandals and covered-up by the mud slung on the Gulf Coast shores.
Tsumani relief? Washed away in the splendor of Super Bowls, celebrity weddings, and publicity-seeking bottom feeders on reality shows.
Right now, I am in the process of moving and need to update my bone marrow donor card. This is a relatively simple, painless process unlike the painful procedures a cancer patient must undergo when battling the disease. Bone marrow donation is a multi-step process, but the initial step is simply submitting a blood sample. Your information is placed in a global registry and, if you are a suitable candidate for a patient who needs bone marrow, you are asked to become a donor.
I may never be a match, but the idea there is a possibility that I could help someone compels me to make sure my information is always current.
Maybe you don't want to ever have to make the choice to donate your marrow, but there are other choices you can make to help another human being. Donate your time - what a concept...it is also the most precious gift one can give and it will last longer than a rubber bracelet.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Privatize Your Private Lives
I have a blog. No secret there. Aside from a few posts (in particular, "A Tale of Two Undies"), I comment on issues that affect me but don't necessarily address everything about me.
For example, I won't talk about my sex life or extremely private relationship matters (although I did publish a scathing post-breakup post [detailing lies I was told and my heartbreak caused by those lies] for a few hours, which I then disassembled from this electronic gallery due to my guilt over publicly lashing him - even though what I wrote was all true), share photographs of anyone other than myself, nor will I provide personal details about family members.
That being said, the Web has entrapped itself in its own weave. It's now fashionable to make your private life public, and social networking takes nodes and structures to a new level beyond the layperson's basic comprehension. When you create a profile on Facebook, you're doing more than just posting a profile and a picture. (If you want to learn more, go have fun with words like Dunbar's number, cohesion coefficient, and so forth.)
Our elementary glee with "Googling" ourselves, friends, family, and past loves makes me wonder whether all of this public information blurs, if not obliterates, the lines of privacy and protection. Have our lives become mere bits for electronic investigation?
What would we want to see hidden from public view? Is it even possible anymore?
So, before you post that pic to MySpace, blog about your boyfriend's orange navel from his half-baked attempt at the tanning salon, and join a seemingly-innocent network on FaceBook, think about what that information can do to you, your career, and your social network - and I'm not talking about the binary friends online but the flesh and blood, breathing friends who you will have to face in the real world.
For example, I won't talk about my sex life or extremely private relationship matters (although I did publish a scathing post-breakup post [detailing lies I was told and my heartbreak caused by those lies] for a few hours, which I then disassembled from this electronic gallery due to my guilt over publicly lashing him - even though what I wrote was all true), share photographs of anyone other than myself, nor will I provide personal details about family members.
That being said, the Web has entrapped itself in its own weave. It's now fashionable to make your private life public, and social networking takes nodes and structures to a new level beyond the layperson's basic comprehension. When you create a profile on Facebook, you're doing more than just posting a profile and a picture. (If you want to learn more, go have fun with words like Dunbar's number, cohesion coefficient, and so forth.)
Our elementary glee with "Googling" ourselves, friends, family, and past loves makes me wonder whether all of this public information blurs, if not obliterates, the lines of privacy and protection. Have our lives become mere bits for electronic investigation?
What would we want to see hidden from public view? Is it even possible anymore?
So, before you post that pic to MySpace, blog about your boyfriend's orange navel from his half-baked attempt at the tanning salon, and join a seemingly-innocent network on FaceBook, think about what that information can do to you, your career, and your social network - and I'm not talking about the binary friends online but the flesh and blood, breathing friends who you will have to face in the real world.
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