Comic Relief- why it really grinds my gears.
Normally, my blog posts are fairly lengthy. This one is just a quickie, because everything I wanted to say wouldn't fit into a 140 character tweet.
Tonight (Friday 13th March 2015) is the night where millions of pounds will be raised for Comic Relief, in order to try and help those living in poverty. The event is always successful and an astonishingly large amount is always raised for those in need- it is an excellent event to help an excellent cause, and I think it's wonderful that nearly everybody contributes in such a selfless way, be it through a simple donation or a more dramatic event, such as a skydive for charity, or dancing for 24 hours.
There's something about Comic Relief that really grinds my gears though. It's not that I don't support the cause, because I 100% do, and I always donate money to those I know who are doing sponsored silences, cake sales, talent shows and the likes of it. However, why do we pick this one time of year to reach into our savings and donate some pennies of our own? Not a day goes by where I don't see an advert on TV about a small child living in desolate conditions, being forced to drink contaminated water. These adverts are sometimes endorsed by celebrities and sometimes not. How many people donate when they see those adverts?
It saddens me, almost to the point of serious frustration, that it takes the commercialization of poverty for such large funds to be raised. If Comic Relief was not around, little to no money would be raised. If the celebrities we loved best didn't get involved doing brave, heroic or silly things for the cause, little to no money would be raised. If there was no event to raise awareness of the poverty that needs solving, would we still be raising the millions of pounds we do each March to help those in need? Probably not.
I once read that if the top 50 richest people in the world donated just one year of their salary towards eliminating poverty, there would be no poverty. That's just 50 people, out of the whole, wide world. Think if everybody donated a small amount, once a week, without the need to buy a red nose, or a Kate Moss lipstick or a cute little tote bag, how much we could raise all year around.
Obviously, I understand not everyone can afford to donate- it would be naive of me to think that everyone could do so, every single week. I myself could not afford that. I also understand that Comic Relief is meant to bring an element of fun to an otherwise serious issue, in an attempt to get as many people as involved as possible. However, I can't help but feel that it's quite sad that without a commercialized event, most of us won't help those in need. £5 a month isn't much to ask, generally speaking. £2 a month is even less. Perhaps I'm living in a dream world, but it seems so simple to me.
Why wait until March to donate to such a worthwhile cause? Why wait until you see your favourite celebrity doing something stupid to raise funds? Why wait until you can buy a funky red nose that you will literally never wear? We see people in poverty on our TV's every single day. Don't make them wait. Donate then and there. Every penny helps, all year round. Not just in March.
Love from,
Florence Grace
Tonight (Friday 13th March 2015) is the night where millions of pounds will be raised for Comic Relief, in order to try and help those living in poverty. The event is always successful and an astonishingly large amount is always raised for those in need- it is an excellent event to help an excellent cause, and I think it's wonderful that nearly everybody contributes in such a selfless way, be it through a simple donation or a more dramatic event, such as a skydive for charity, or dancing for 24 hours.
There's something about Comic Relief that really grinds my gears though. It's not that I don't support the cause, because I 100% do, and I always donate money to those I know who are doing sponsored silences, cake sales, talent shows and the likes of it. However, why do we pick this one time of year to reach into our savings and donate some pennies of our own? Not a day goes by where I don't see an advert on TV about a small child living in desolate conditions, being forced to drink contaminated water. These adverts are sometimes endorsed by celebrities and sometimes not. How many people donate when they see those adverts?
It saddens me, almost to the point of serious frustration, that it takes the commercialization of poverty for such large funds to be raised. If Comic Relief was not around, little to no money would be raised. If the celebrities we loved best didn't get involved doing brave, heroic or silly things for the cause, little to no money would be raised. If there was no event to raise awareness of the poverty that needs solving, would we still be raising the millions of pounds we do each March to help those in need? Probably not.
I once read that if the top 50 richest people in the world donated just one year of their salary towards eliminating poverty, there would be no poverty. That's just 50 people, out of the whole, wide world. Think if everybody donated a small amount, once a week, without the need to buy a red nose, or a Kate Moss lipstick or a cute little tote bag, how much we could raise all year around.
Obviously, I understand not everyone can afford to donate- it would be naive of me to think that everyone could do so, every single week. I myself could not afford that. I also understand that Comic Relief is meant to bring an element of fun to an otherwise serious issue, in an attempt to get as many people as involved as possible. However, I can't help but feel that it's quite sad that without a commercialized event, most of us won't help those in need. £5 a month isn't much to ask, generally speaking. £2 a month is even less. Perhaps I'm living in a dream world, but it seems so simple to me.
Why wait until March to donate to such a worthwhile cause? Why wait until you see your favourite celebrity doing something stupid to raise funds? Why wait until you can buy a funky red nose that you will literally never wear? We see people in poverty on our TV's every single day. Don't make them wait. Donate then and there. Every penny helps, all year round. Not just in March.
Love from,
Florence Grace
One of my teachers brought up this point recently - very few people are willing to donate money to a cause unless they are getting something out of it as well ie. cake sales, mufti days at school etc. I personally think it's really sad! I do disagree with you that people don't donate to charity all year round - maybe it's because I go to a religious school and we're strongly encouraged to do charitable things but I swear there's always someone on my Facebook posting about doing charity runs or something like that! I suppose a huge influx of charity donations in March is better than none at all though :)
ReplyDeleteMegan x meguana.co.uk
Yes, I realise this is a very generalised statement, I don't speak for everyone at all! I just know that vast majority of people that I know don't usually donate except at events like Sport Relief and Comic Relief. I think we should all be strongly encouraged regardless of being religious or not, it's sad that we aren't! Oh yes definitely, it's just sad it all has to be so commercial! x
DeleteHallelujah! I was saying this the other day!
ReplyDeleteWww.bathtimebedtime.blogspot.com
Oh really?! It's been bugging me for a while so I thought I'd have a rant!
Delete