The i in Team

One of the benefits of aging is perspective. It isn't always a good thing, though, because it exposes the current time to the past.

In this case, my being a child of the 1960s has given me the perspective of what are called Aging Baby Boomers.  Good for me.

I started to think (dangerous, I know) about the differences in our society between then and now.  We can rule out the obvious ones that even kids could come up with.  The one I focused on is the difference in the way we treat each other.

The 1960s were a time of great social and political turmoil.  There were civil rights issues, protests against the war, and demonstrations demanding women's equality.  Those are all social issues, and to a large extent, have been resolved to the satisfaction of the people involved.

We could say it was a "simpler time," but that is true of any era that we look back on.  Comparatively, the 1930s were simpler, and the decades prior, and so forth.  Society continues to grow in complexity. 

The times in which we live are certainly as complex as any, and not only technologically, although it is the technology that presents the issue I found in my thinking.

I find the biggest difference in society between now and then is the focus on Me.  I know, we've been through the "Me Generation" and all, but this is something different.  What dawned on me is the proliferation of things that have the prefix you, me or i.

YouTube, iPhone, (i-everything), Facebook (a variation of me, concerning your face), Selfies (which, I know were never done with film cameras) and now this Ice Bucket thing, where people challenge other people to pour a bucket of iced water on themselves - all in the name of some charity.  Sure, there is a do-gooder aspect of it, but the bigger angle is me and what I am doing versus what you are doing - which is nothing.

We used to dump our spare change in a bucket, leave "March of Dimes" or fill books of quarters that the local fire house would collect.  Now, we donate a dollar and fill-out a tag with our name on it that gets posted at the Wawa checkout counter; collect money for a charity run or bike-a-thon for illness awareness and wear a t-shirt proclaiming "I DID THIS FOR THAT."  There is no good in anonymity.

Let us not examine the bigger issue of what good the money does for the illness.  Somebody rode a bicycle 75 miles in the name of a deadly disease, and yet, the deadly disease goes on.  It is likely that the disease pays no attention to the amount of money raised to fight it.  In a larger sense, when did throwing money at something ever change it?  The cynic would argue that the corporate end of the disease (the Association or Foundation) that benefits from the money would be ill-served to end the disease, lest its benefactors be out of a job.  The money goes toward propegating the need for the money.  It is a literal death spiral.

You will be sadly disappointed if, at the end of your life, the time and money you have spent and raised for these diseases has been spent and raised in vain - which is the highest probability.  You would be better served - and the victims would be better served - if you gave your time and money directly to them and not to some Association or Foundation who will spend a fraction of your dollars on something that is not closely related to finding a cure or making the victims happier.

You can spread happiness and do good on your own - without Facebook posts, videos, or drawing attention to yourself.

Try it.