Wednesday 2 April 2014

This JRFM contest SUCKS!!!

And I'll tell you WHY it SUCKS: not everyone can win. :(

In the beginning, before the game actually started, it was all light and fun, with pictures of rainbows and fuzzy bunnies. I even wrote a post about writing a silly entry. Then the game started and reality hit: people REALLY need help!

Just hearing the entries read and hearing the qualifier explain their reason further on air isn't enough. Ooooooh no. Have you read any of the comments on JRFM's FaceBook page?? Not only are there dozens of people sharing their stories on the YSIWPI posts, they have also posted directly onto JRFM's wall. You could easily spend an hour reading all the tales of woe.

And I don't say that in jest - they TRULY are tales of woe. Dying relatives, disabled children, sick ones needing medicine, poor families needing simple basics (food in the cupboards, bus passes, clothes). Some ask for little (concert tickets, a dinner out), some ask for more (plane tickets, renovations, vehicles).

When they announced the contest, they encouraged people to ask for what they wanted. Ask for $5000 for shoes and purses, ask for $9,999 for a dream wedding. So we did. And now the shamers are chiming in, making us feel like we SHOULDN'T have asked for ANYTHING. The morally superior listeners asked for money to donate to shelters, SPCA, children's charities, third world countries, the food bank. All honorable and admirable. That is what THEY would do with the money. But I don't think they should be throwing stones at others who chose to ask for the money for themselves (which is what the contest was originally meant for).

Yes, of course we want the man and his wife to have money for fertility treatments or adoption papers. That goes without saying! But what about the single parent who was widowed and needs to feed their children? Now you have to make a morally challenging decision: do you support those wanting a family, or those already struggling with a family?

DON'T MAKE ME CHOOSE!!!

Let's be honest: $9,999 is probably not going to change anyone's life. It will put a bandaid over cracks, but will not fix them. It will buy one car or two family trips or three dirt bikes or four months of rent or five months of medicine or maybe one year of tuition.

And yes, everyone deserves that money. We are only on the second day and already I am waffling!

This sucks.

How will YOU choose?

5 comments:

  1. That would be a difficult choice. I think maybe choose some who really need it and also those who want it for frivolous things...throw 10 choices into a hat and go with that!

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  2. That's a good idea. I will spread my votes out among my top 10. It's going to be so hard to narrow it down...

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  3. Its a contest that I am not interested in participating.

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  4. Well I for one...asked for ALL of it...for ME!!! lol The guilt that comes from that...oh my! Thanks for your continued updates! You must have alarms going off every minute of every hour!! You rock!

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    1. I asked for all of it too! But apparently we can go in and change our entry. I suppose there's nothing LIFE CHANGING that I need though, so will have to skip this contest... ;)

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