Science is a process, NOT a god

When I was a kid, I loved Ms. Frizzle, oh heck, I still love her… I mean, I practically became her…red hair, crazy science earrings, constant quest to prove that science is fun in the face of all adversity.  

Though, there is one notable difference between me and Ms. Frizzle…she is magic…my science and I sadly, are not. 

 

However, in this most joyful year of 2020, I think my fellow people of earth have forgotten this small fact.  Constantly, on the news, social media, or in casual conversation the word “science” is proclaimed as if it were an omniscient being, that will give us all of the answers should we only kneel before it and beg.  If this is you, then you my dear, need Jesus, not science.  Being intimately acquainted with both, I feel entirely confident in my ability to recommend one over the other.

 

Science does not hold the answer and deliver it at the moment we ask, it does not solve our deepest problems with magic, or tell us only what we want to hear.  Science is a process by which we discover the truth about the world around us.  Did you hear that…I’ll say it again just in case…science is a process.  Like all good processes, there is a method...The Scientific Method.   I went through this last winter with my 7 and 5 year old nephews, so I am confident you can handle it.

 

The Scientific Method consists of:

 

-        Asking a question – Important here, the question must be as simple as possible, provable by some sort of experiment where you can control the environment, reproduce your evidence, and over time hopefully find the answer to your question.

 

-        Forming a hypothesis – An educated guess about what you think the answer to your question will be and no, contrary to what you may have learned in 2020, this will often not match your conclusion (more on this important detail below).

 

-        Designing an experiment – At this stage you design a way to test your hypothesis, making sure the steps are as simple as possible, controlling for as much variability as you can, and that you can repeat them.

 

-        Performing the experiment – Ideally, you run your experiment many, many times.  Keeping excellent notes, running statistical analysis, modifying your experiment as necessary and ALWAYS making sure that your data is reproducible.

 

-        Drawing a conclusion – Again, this may or MAY NOT match your hypothesis.  You must always allow the data uncovered to lead you to the truth, whether or not you like, or wish to believe this truth.

This process takes time, lots and lots of time, the bigger the question and the less that is known on the subject, the more time it takes.  However, we already know a fair amount about a lot of things, so we can also draw on historical knowledge to help us form our hypotheses and draw conclusions from our data.  But remember, EVEN THE HYPOTHESES OF SCIENTISTS ARE NOT ALWAYS CORRECT.  We MUST always go through the process in an objective way.

I have remained, relatively quiet on the topic of the pandemic lately,, not because I don’t have opinions…I most definitely do.  I have stayed quiet because frankly, the whisper of common sense I could offer, felt like a mouse going over Niagara Falls on a leaf…no way is he making it out alive.  So, I have watched, and read, and contemplated, and cried, and become completely enraged at the total bastardization of my one true love…science.  So, let me clear some things up for those of you new to this relationship.

Science Does NOT:

-        Care about your opinion – Whether you believe COVID-19 to be a group hallucination or the absolute WORST disease in the history of the planet.  Science does not care.  The process will give you data and that data (if reviewed objectively) will give you the truth, whether or not that truth hurts your preconceived notions of reality.

 

-        Fear argument or questions – Science is objective, it does not have a dog in the fight.  It wants only information and truth.  You think the outcome of a particular experiment is wrong GREAT!  Design a new one, ask the question in a different way, gather more data, find more truth.

 

-        Settle – There is not phrase that makes my blood boil faster than, ”The science is settled.”  Science does not settle, it will always seek more information, data, questioning.  This is not to say that there are not facts and truths we have already discovered, but science isn’t afraid of your skepticism.  You think there is something new to discover about gravity…fantastic Isaac Newton, have at it…see process detailed above.

 

-        Have emotion – Science is cold and unfeeling.  It does not base it’s conclusion on what makes the population feel safer, or what we really need to hear.  If you want something to make you feel secure in a messed up world I suggest the Bible, a cup of hot tea, and a weighted blanket.

 

-        Change its mind on a whim – As I noted before the process of science takes time, in this time it will produce data, data can be complied for analysis, and that analysis can lead us to a conclusion.  This conclusion will not then change because it is unpopular.  Science is not Glinda…it’s definitely Elphaba and couldn’t care less about the wizard.  Analysis can be open to interpretation, so you may have two people who can look at the same data and draw different conclusions.  Conclusion drawing is sometimes the artsy part of science, so beware the over confident conclusion and if the data doesn’t give you a clear conclusion…yep you guessed it, more questions and back to the process.

 

-        Have a political party – The last point I will make here is really the most crucial for 2020.  There is not a “political party of science.”  Science doesn’t give a crap who you want to be the president, or what you feel is the best structure for government.  It will continue to chug through its process of questions being asked, data being gathered, and conclusions being drawn as if you and your opinion are meaningless…I know….rude.

 

In conclusion, science is a process by which we can find truths, it is not a god.  It is a tool in our tool box we can use to understand and explore the world.  Please, stop worshiping at the altar of science, she can’t handle the pressure to know everything right now….it’s not her process…

Coronavirus by the Numbers: Trying to Discover the Real Amid the Ridiculous

Ok, everyone take a deep breath, through your mask and in your 6 foot bubble away from every other living soul, while admiring the new collection of hand sanitizer and toilet paper piled to your basement ceiling.  Are we feeling good about ourselves America…I certainly hope not!  Personally, I am feeling sick…and not the fever, cough, and shortness of breath kind.

Coronavirus has swept the world and there are some radical and seemingly ridiculous consequences.  Being a person a reason and sense I have been struggling during the last week or so to grip what is happening and during the last 24 hours to not feel like I am living in the Twilight Zone.  With States of Emergency being called for 2 presumed cases, Universities creating web-based lectures on the fly, sporting events taking place with no fans, NBA suspending play, concerts being cancelled, companies mandating employees work from home, and on and on my head is spinning and I am struggling to understand why these radical decisions are being made. 

I have decided there is one way to get my head on straight and feet on solid ground and it is by going back to what I know: science, numbers, and logic.  Let’s see if we can make sense of some of this together.

What do we know?

Johns Hopkins has put together and interactive map of the cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19).  I will use numbers from this site as of 11Mar2020 10pm EST.  This is a live, updating map so the numbers will change and current numbers can be found here.

We know that COVID-19 can be mild or severe, the severe cases are more common in the elderly or those with existing lung issues.  It can resolve at home over a few days or require hospitalization with oxygen supplementation or in rare cases cause respiratory failure.

The transmission of COVID-19, while not yet entirely known, is thought to be highest when the person is most symptomatic.  This is different from the flu in a very positive way.  The flu is most symptomatic 24-48 hours before a person develops symptoms, so COVID-19 being most contagious during the symptomatic period of the disease makes it much easier to avoid.  It is also suspected that transmission is through body fluid contact i.e. someone with the disease sneezing on or in close proximity to you, sneezing or coughing into their hand and touching an object (staircase handrail for instance) then you touching that object and then touching your mouth, nose, eyes, etc.  It is not thought to be airborne, which is also very positive.

How many people are affected?

Again, using the Johns Hopkins Live Interactive Map on 11Mar2020 10pm 125,865 cases have been confirmed in the world.  If we estimate the world’s population at 7.7 billion people (or so Google tells me) this is 0.0016% of the world’s population.  I think we can all agree that the percent is very small at this point.  Let’s explore the numbers a little bit more and see if they can bring us some peace of mind:

Mortality Rate: With any epidemic/pandemic it is crucial to determine the mortality rate or the likelihood that those who catch the disease will die from the disease.  This number is in constant fluctuation right now for COVID-19 because the number of cases are going up each day, people are recovering, and in cases of severe disease people are dying.  Let’s look at some of the numbers though and see what they can tell us:

Overall mortality (again from the Johns Hopkins’ numbers):

There are 2 ways that I see to look at a global level, so let’s looks at each:

1)      Total deaths/Total Confirmed x 100 = 4,615/125,865 x 100  = 3.6%

This gives us an idea of the virus as a whole, every case that has been confirmed verses the number of deaths from the disease.  While likely not entirely accurate, it gives us a place to begin and says that if you are infected there is a 96.4% chance you will recover fully.

2)      Total deaths/(Total Deaths + Total Recovered) x 100 = 4,615/(4,615 + 67,017) x 100 = 6.4%

I personally prefer this method of looking at the disease, because it is the cleanest, however at this point in the disease it is also likely much higher than it will be when all is said and done.  In the above we included people who have not completed the disease course so some will recover and some will unfortunately not, so without knowing the outcome the calculation is projecting them as all recovered.  In the 2^nd calculation we used only people who have completed the disease, so there are no unknowns skewing the data, however the number of cases is very small and the most susceptible and often the severest cases are among the first seen.  It is very likely that as the number of people who have completed the disease grows this percentage will get smaller and smaller.

The other caveat for these numbers is that these are reported cases, since this disease is not always severe, it does not always require medical attention, so there are an unknown number of unreported mild and recovered cases that could change everything above for the better.

All of this being said, even with the 2^nd calculation there is a 93.6% chance you would recover from the disease.

What is the likelihood I catch it?

For this let’s look at the 2 countries most affected and furthest along in the disease, China and Italy.

China:

Confirmed Cases - 80,921

Population of China - 1,408,526,449 (Google Jan 2020 data)

Percentage of people affected in China:  Confirmed Cases/Total Population x 100 = 0.0057%

So, while the disease ran unchecked for the longest period of time in any nation less than 1/100^th of 1% of the population was infected and the numbers of infected are now dropping in China.

Italy:

Confirmed Cases: 12,462

Population of Italy: 60,488,416 (Google current data)

Percentage of people affected in Italy:  Confirmed Cases/Total Population x 100 = 0.020%

This is 2/100ths of a percent.

These are the countries where the disease is being called rampant and running unchecked.  When you look at the math or at least when my geeky self does, it brings me peace.  Now, I am certainly not saying you should fly to Wuhan China and lick a handrail.  In fact, the common-sense advice given to us is spot on and really just good practice all the time:

-         -  Wash your hands regularly and for 20 seconds with soap and warm water

-        -   Be aware of what you touch, place food on, etc. when in public

-          - If you are sick stay home

The instillation of fear is really what I am trying to combat, it is important to note that there are definite populations where the disease takes a more serious course, the elderly and those with lung issues.  If you do not fall into one of these categories you do not need to be afraid, even if you get the virus it will likely be a mild case. 

It is also good to look at the bigger picture and see that the percentages of infected people are very, very low when looking at the entire population of a country or state.  We should take precautions, as noted above, much like we should during a normal flu season (or at any time because out in public is a germy, disgusting mess), but we need not stop our lives, fill our minds with fear and worry, and line the pockets of the execs at Purell and Charmin.  Stop, breathe, use common sense, and recognize that we are not doomed.

Why the Planned Parenthood “Sale of Baby Parts” isn’t the story that matters?

The pit-in-your stomach, heart stopping agony at seeing a tiny, severed arm being picked up by a pair of tweezers is truly indescribable and the farthest corners of my vocabulary cannot begin to explain the sorrow in my soul as I witnessed it, even on screen it was devastating.  The tiniest of hands that only a few years from now could have waved cheerfully from a window like that of my 3 year old nephew when I come for a visit, the smallest of little feet that could have one day traveled the world, a teeny pair of lungs that never had the chance to breathe air, and an almost inconceivably small eye that was never able to see the smile of someone who loved him, all a bloodied, muddled mess in a petri dish being picked through like pieces of chicken on a butcher’s block.

Looking at the shattered pieces of that little boy my mind immediately went to what could have been.   What was that man destined to do?  Who was he to be?  Now, some of you may dislike my use of the word “man,” but that is ultimately what we are talking about here right?  The precious, little, soul attached to those now wretched limbs was meant to grow into a man, to experience and live life, to be shaped by his childhood joys and traumas, have dreams, ambitions, and passions to chase.  But, this man wasn’t allowed any of it, every chance and choice was stolen from him and in a moment that must have been pure hell he was literally ripped limb from limb.  Now to add insult to the highest of injuries this man’s organs are being picked through for usefulness, given a market price and sold.  Does it make a difference to you to think of the little being as a man rather than a fetus?  It shouldn’t…

At one point we were all in the place of that fetus, anyone in my generation or those since should count him/herself blessed to have made it out of that prenatal war-zone alive, that their foxhole wasn’t stormed, and they were granted safe passage into the world.  Many were not so lucky and our world is changed because of it. 

Maybe we lost the great leader of nations who would help guide America back to her glory days or the brilliant scientist with a mind built to discover great feats of medical advancement.  Maybe there are now fewer Average Joes: hardworking, family types, who are the foundation of middle class America.  Or maybe, we kept a few homeless off our streets, or cells empty in our prisons.  In truth, even though we often use these arguments it doesn’t matter what that life would have amounted to, the cost of the loss is equally and utterly devastating.  Every chance that little being had to grow and change and choose was stolen and our world is a darker place because of it.

Human worth is not dependent on what you do, how much you make, your contribution to society, or any other arbitrary factor.  It is simply granted by being human, as soon as the sperm tunnels into the egg you are a chasm of untapped potential, potential that is uniquely you and will never be duplicated.  Whether or not you meet this potential does not affect your inherent worth.

It is no wonder that as adults so many of us believe love must be conditional, that our worth is dependent on how good we are, how smart we are, or how much we are wanted.

As I scroll down my facebook feed on almost any given day I can see pregnancy announcements, gender reveal party pictures, or descriptions of the size of the unborn child as compared to fruits and vegetables.  All of these “fetuses” have one thing in common, they are wanted.  So that begs the question, are these children inherently more valuable than others because they are desired?  Certainly not, but somehow we treat them as such.

Nothing in the child is different between the one blessed to be in the womb of the woman who excitedly opens a box and dodges pink or blue balloons as they flutter past her smiling face, and the one whose mother feels helpless, alone, and unable to continue on the road she has found herself.  Yet, we treat them so differently.  We are willing and ready to celebrate with one family and shrug off the removal of an unfortunate accident for another.  Until we resolve this within ourselves, we will never have peace or rest in our society on this issue.  So what is the answer?

Love! And yes I know how cheesy that sounds.  In fact, as I type this I am hearing The Beatles “All you Need is Love” running through the back of my head and my inner voice is gagging on the gigantic cheese puff I just offered you.  Unfortunately though, sometimes the truth is cheesy.  No one ever came to Christ because you beat them with a Bible, called them names, or yelled in their face.  We absolutely should be excited with our “expecting” friends, we should rejoice over the new life at every opportunity.  And the broken, sad woman on the way to the abortion clinic?  Love her too!  She may need and appreciate it more than your friend on facebook.

We will never win the abortion battle if our strategy is judgement and anger.  Love, compassion, and understanding are the only tools that matter.  To the mother of the little boy in that dish, I don’t hate you.  If you weep, I weep with you and for you.  It breaks my heart to think that you may have felt you had no other option and I want all women in your shoes to know how deeply loved they are and their great worth in the eyes of their Heavenly Father.  I want them to feel empowered to face the road ahead of them, no matter how utterly terrifying life may seem.

We often do this very well in the pro-life movement, there are so many crisis pregnancy centers with volunteers willing to listen with love and help where and when they can, there are programs to give pregnant women in crisis housing and support through the pregnancy and birth, as well as charities whose heart is with single mothers throughout their child raising years.  We know how to win with love and do so daily in little ways.  It is when these scandals appear that we sometimes forget.

The church, the pro-life movement, the world is filled with imperfect people doing our best in an imperfect world.  We cannot let anger fill our hearts and judgement leave our lips, especially when the control of it is most difficult.  Why would Mary Magdalene change her life and follow Christ?  Love.  Why would Peter walk away from his livelihood?  Love.  Why would a man allow himself to be nailed to a cross for sins the rest of us committed?  Love.

It is ok, appropriate even to be devastated by the loss abortion has brought upon this country.  Allowing love and sadness to replace judgement and anger in our discussion of abortion and Planned Parenthood seems small, but it is vital to appropriately help the suffering women and allow our country to understand our heart and hurt where abortion is concerned.  Anger is easy…and when was the easy road really the best road?

An Unexpected Hero: My Take on Pixar’s Inside Out

I don’t go to movies in the theater often…hardly ever actually.  Recently though, I saw the new Pixar movie “Inside Out” and I would highly recommend it.  I know what you are thinking: “That’s a kid’s movie…why on earth would Theresa write a post on her bioethics blog about a kid’s movie?”  Well, it is a kid’s movie to be sure, but I am convinced that a psychology student could write their dissertation on the film.

The movie has a definitively adult level and a message that is desperately needed in our society.  It opens at the birth of the main character, Riley.  Inside Riley’s mind we meet Joy, a vivacious and enthusiastic little emotion ready to tackle life alongside Riley.  Within seconds, Joy is joined by another, less vivacious emotion, Sadness.  We follow Riley through her first decade of life quite quickly and along the way we meet our final three emotions, Fear, Anger, and Disgust.  These 5 emotions run the control panel inside Riley’s head, most of the time Joy is in control, so Riley is a generally happy kid.  Along the way we see Riley form many memories including 5 core memories that make up the fundamental parts of her personality (goofiness, love of family, love of friends, honesty, and love of hockey).

When Riley is 11 her family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco, and this move comes at a high emotional cost for our little heroine.  Through a series of events, Joy and Sadness get tossed out of the control panel and have to find their way back through the deepest corners of Riley’s mind.  During this adventure Joy, who has always been annoyed and put off by Sadness, realizes the important role Sadness actually plays in Riley’s life.

The most prominent theme in the movie for me, is an illustration of the importance of sadness and suffering in our life.  Sadness can help temper our other emotions, allow us to experience true joy, and help us process through the sufferings in our life.  This is not a new idea certainly and there have been scores of books and motivational speakers who have tread this path time and again.  What I loved though was seeing this idea so brilliantly illustrated in a kid’s movie.  Teaching our children (and their parents) that sadness has a place and makes us grow.

As Americans we often think there should be no suffering, no death, no pain or hurt of any kind.  Our primary goal in life becomes avoiding pain and hiding the hurt whenever some suffering sneaks through.  This type of life isn’t healthy or fulfilling, but many people don’t realize what their life is missing until they allow themselves to enter the suffering and deal with their sadness on a real level.  It seems counter intuitive that sadness leads to joy, but understanding and accepting the sadness and loss helps us to better understand and appreciate life’s joys.

Outside of this counter-cultural understanding of sadness, the movie also had an extremely wholesome family message.  At one point Joy and Sadness are recalling the same memory, the loss of a hockey game.  They each reflect on how this is a good memory for them (i.e. the memory is both sad and happy).  A few scenes later, Joy finds the memory and watches it from the beginning, seeing how the devastation of losing the hockey game is changed to joy when Mom and Dad come to comfort Riley.  Joy is surprised by this realization and remarks (something to the effect of) “Mom and Dad make the pain go away.”  This idea is profound in our culture: Mom and Dad are right?  They have wisdom?  They can solve problems for their children? 

The ideas of honoring your father and mother and submitting yourself to their wisdom and love often are presented as old school in our culture.  Our society tends to play into the idea that Mom and Dad are stupid, their experience is useless to teach children anything, and kids probably know more than their parents do anyway.  My home is not immune to this societal influence, the idea that I have gained wisdom from my experiences and want the best for him is battle I fight with my 18 year old on a daily basis. 

It was wonderful to see a different narrative in this movie.  In almost all cases, Mom and Dad desperately want what is best for their children, they want to share their wisdom and experience, protect their children, and show them love.   I absolutely adored seeing this reality on the screen in Inside Out, it was refreshing, wholesome, and heartwarming.

I could likely go on and on about this movie and I am sure that each time I watch it new revelations will arise from its depths, but I will stop for now, with a strong endorsement of the film as one of the most family friendly I have seen in a long time.  It is well worth your money and support of the filmmakers.  If you haven’t gone to see it, please do and if you already have, see it again!

HELP NEEDED...

Hello Everyone,

My mom and I are embarking on a new journey and we are requesting your help.  Our hope is to design a website that will be a resource for people with disabilities and their families.  As many of you know, our family has personal experience with disability.  My father lost his battle with ALS in October of 2013 after years in a power wheelchair as a result of the disease.

While sick, my dad made the journey to upstate New York to attend my Master's graduation.  It was important to him that he be there for me, and he was willing to move heaven and earth to make it happen.  His effort and determination touched my heart and is a constant reminder of how much he loved me and how important my successes were to him.

As any one who travels with disability knows, it is a constant challenge in creative thinking and physical exertion.  On our trip, Mom, Dad, and I discussed how useful it would be to have a web resource with details about hotels and disability access.  Even though most of these hotels meet the specific requirements for handicap accessibility, there are often little surprises here and there that it would be best to prepare for ahead of time.  Mom and I were revisiting this idea and decided to give web design a try.

The greatest challenge when talking about disabilities is that their are countless types of disability and needs to help those people.  With this project we are trying to catch as many specific needs as possible in an organized and controlled environment.  To do this in the best possible way we need some help from our friends...namely you dear reader.

So, what do we need?

1) Feedback on our hotel assessment form.  Please follow this link (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0u4tibbMiF2UGJFNE0xTnkyMms&authuser=0), we have done our best to capture all of the needs we could think of but are definitely looking for feedback and input.  We are particularly looking for feedback on vision or hearing impairment needs and anything else you feel we have missed in our form.  Please leave a comment below with your thoughts.

2) Please share this article on your social media sites.  We are looking for a lot of feedback and help.  The more people who hear about this project, the most experiences we can gather, and the better our results.  Please, please, please 

tell your friends and share this post, we want as much involvement as possible.

3) Help assessing!  Once we have finalized our assessment form we will be looking for people to visit hotels (either in your local area or on your travels) to assess their accessibility and return the completed form to us so the data can be entered onto the website.  The more hotels we can assess, the more helpful the site will be to disabled travelers and their families.

4) We need a name! We want a catchy name that will also express our mission of helping people travel more easily and successfully when dealing with disability.  Please leave your suggestions in the comment area.

Thank you all for your help and support with this idea!  I look forward to working on this with you and seeing it develop by the grace of God.

Please remember to share this post and leave your feedback in the comments!

ALS Walk and Roll 2014

As many of you know my father passed away from complications of his ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s Disease) last October.  For the past three years my family has participated in the ALS of Michigan Walk and Roll.  We are participating again this year on September 28^th at Stoney Creek.

ALS of Michigan is a fantastic organization that aims to meet the immediate needs of ALS sufferers.  When my dad was living with ALS they let him borrow a scooter, wheelchair, ramps, arm chair, and shower chair as needed.  They have an extensive lending closet to meet the needs of pALS (people with ALS) in Michigan.  The organization also provides respite care to patients in need, filling a vital need for many ALS families.

ALS of Michigan has been a wonderful organization for my family, particularly with the support groups they sponsor for pALS and their caregivers.  I am asking you to please consider donating to this great cause, every little bit helps.  Please follow this link to donate:https://ssl.charityweb.net/alsofmichigan/walknroll/theresaspranger.htm

Thank you in advance for your support!

Chill Out: A Response to “Taking the Icy Plunge”

It’s not every day I have the opportunity to articulate a cogent argument against my brilliant former professor, so when it comes I just can’t pass it up.  Recently, in “Taking the Icy Plunge (or not)” Sean Philpott-Jones argued against the #ALSIceBucketChallenge.  For those of you unfamiliar with this challenge, it is a campaign to raise money for research and awareness of a devastating disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease).  The idea is: one person posts a video of him/herself having a bucket of ice water poured over their head, they then challenge three friends to pour a bucket of ice water over their heads and/or donate $100 to an ALS charity.  The challenge has gone viral and has likely filled your facebook newsfeed as it has mine.

ALS is a devastating disease that slowly immobilizes its victims striking their muscles in any order: arms, legs, voice, diaphragm, any muscle can be affected.  People afflicted with the disease lose control of their muscles and at its climax are entombed in their own body, unable to move or talk, a condition referred to as “locked in syndrome.”  ALS claimed my dad last October, so my family has a very personal connection with this horrible disease.

In “Taking the Icy Plunge” the author argues that the #ALSIceBucketChallenge has two major flaws:

1.       The challenge does little to raise ALS awareness long term with videos containing little substance.

2.       In a fundraising campaign charitable donation should not play second fiddle while public humiliation takes the first chair.

Ok, so to the first point, certainly the videos aren’t classy, but (this year at least) they seem to be effective.  At this time last year the Ice Bucket Challenge had raised approximately $32,000 for ALS charities, this year $5.5 million has been raised.  Clearly, something is going right for them in 2014.  They are raising awareness of this disease and hopefully sparking an interest in people to search and learn more.  Awareness and education are very different, while the videos are hardly educational, I think the buzz they are generating is positive and could have lasting effects.  Putting more substance into the videos isn’t a bad plan however, and I would encourage anyone accepting a challenge to talk a bit about ALS, why it is important to support charities that help victims of the disease, and post a link to a specific charity with you video.

To the second point, I ask you to look at our society.  We are a culture of sound bites, flashmobs, and thoughts not exceeding 120 characters.  Anything (within the realm of moral of course) that gets people involved and inspired to donate to a good cause is a worthy endeavor.  It is difficult to inspire people to lighten their wallets these days, even for a good cause.  Wise challenge participants have been asking for those challenged to play as well as donate and those not challenged to consider making a donation.

On a personal note, the Ice Bucket Challenge has been a fun diversion for my family this year, as I mentioned above we lost my dad to ALS in October.  For the last 3 years around this time I would call Dad and ask “when are you going to start the walk donation page?”  You see, during Dad’s illness an organization called ALS of Michigan really helped my family.  They have equipment closets filled with tools for ALS patients to borrow and return.  When you have ALS you need a lot of expensive equipment and depending on your disease progression you can go from one piece of equipment to another quite quickly.  For instance, ALS patients can go from cane, to walker, to scooter, to wheelchair within the span of a few months. 

ALS of Michigan lends these tools to pALS (people with ALS) and they exchange or return them as necessary.  The wonderful workers at ALS of Michigan even helped my mom find and figure out a portable shower chair in 2012.  This chair allowed my dad to travel to New York for my Masters program graduation.  You can’t really put a price on that can you?

Each year ALS of Michigan hosts an event called the “Walk & Roll.”  It is their biggest fundraiser of the year and The Joyful Jaywalkers (my dad’s name was Jay…cute huh?) begin fundraising as a team at the beginning of August for the walk on the last Sunday of September.  This year the early days of August ticked by and my fingers ached to dial up Dad and ask “when are you going to start the walk donation page?”  Sadly, he isn’t there to answer and though we are all committed to fundraising this year, no one was very motivated to step into Dad’s place and start up our 2014 team.  The 2013 walk was two weeks before my dad passed away.  It was the last place many of our friends and extended family saw him alive and it will be the last of our “firsts without dad” in this horrible year of adjustment.  Starting the fundraising, whether or not we admitted it to each other or ourselves, was a daunting and emotional task.  Denial was the way we all chose to handle these emotions, until about 2 weeks ago.

This was when our friend Vince was challenged to dump ice water on himself and dedicated his video to my father’s memory, and it went from there, friends challenging friends: everyone talking about my dad, how great he was, how much they miss him, and asking for donations to fight ALS.  It may sound silly, but watching friends and family take an ice shower in honor of Dad really warmed my heart.  It was also the perfect catalyst for our campaign, my siblings all accepted when my brother was challenged, and decided to dedicate our video to all of the wonderful people we lost this year to ALS and those still fighting.  When your family is personally impacted you meet and grow to love many others with the disease, so the list was long.  My sister set up our team fundraising page and we told everyone about the walk in our video.

The challenge is certainly silly, but what are we Americans if not silly right?  And is there anything wrong with being silly for a good cause?

My hope is that this challenge will inspire people to learn more about ALS and support great organizations that help patients and families.  ALS of Michigan is one of those organizations, if you are inspired please click the link below and support the Joyful Jaywalkers in 2014.

https://ssl.charityweb.net/alsofmichigan/walknroll/theresaspranger.htm