The Big Chill

Earlier this Summer a golfer in Florida named Chris Kennedy threw a bucket of water on his head and dedicated the exercise to ALS and challenged his opponent to do the same or make a donation. On July 29^th a former Boston college basketball player named Pete Frates who has ALS himself got the Ice bucket challenge going more officially.  Unless you have been on some media-free sabbatical, you have likely heard of this. The challenge suggests that those “nominated” must either dump a bucket of ice water on their head (video-taped and posted on Facebook) or donate $100 dollars to ALS research. Most people however, seem to be opting to do both. This charitable campaign has swept all social media channels enlisting the support and participation of politicians, musicians, actors, sports figures and average Americans resulting in the donation of over 88 million dollars to the foundation responsible for researching a cure for this little recognized disease.

At last estimate over 3 million videos had been posted on social media channels.  Personally, I was a bit skeptical about it's worthiness but I was taken with the significant amount of donation money pledged and felt compelled to participate and to both dump the bucket and make a donation myself.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is a lethal neurodegenerative disorder affecting 30,000 Americans. As with any sweeping social media trend, many nay-sayers are questioning the wisdom of wasting water and insensitivity of impersonating pain when there is so much real suffering in the world. But the real question for me is Why? I think it’s wonderful that such a large sum of money has been raised to address what appears to be a horrible disease. And the increase in awareness is incontrovertible. 

But Why? What inspires so many to participate? Why has this effort found such widespread support and traction?

We can turn to the study of positive psychology to find theories as to why the exercise in giving has had such appeal for us all:

• A Harvard Business School study showed that “donating to charity has a similar relationship to subjective well-being as a doubling of household income”.

• As study by scientists from the University of North Carolina and UCLA found that participants whose happiness was driven by giving to others rather than by self-gratification experienced reductions in the biological markers associated with increased inflammation which is linked to diabetes, cancer and other conditions.

• A 2013 study led by Dr. Suzanne Richmond of the University of Exeter Medical School found that volunteering was connected to lower rates of depression, higher reports of well-being, and a significant reduction in mortality risk. Those who volunteer live longer.

I think on some fundamental level we know what is good for us and we are drawn to activities of giving. Considering this natural instinct coupled with our desire to be part of something larger than ourselves and to have lasting influence on the world we live in, there really is no surprise that this campaign has gone so incredibly “viral”. 

Over the past several weeks I have also been struck by the passing of Robin Williams.  In an effort to shake my sadness about this loss, I read an article by Sarah Allen Benton in Psychology Today about his death and loss generally.  I loved what she wrote so I am quoting her directly here. She writes:

“the sudden death of a well-loved person awakens us to what’s meaningful in life. We see with fresh eyes how important they’ve been to us. We’re reminded how precious life is.  Affirming life means creating a society where we safeguard our own and each other’s health- and work cooperatively toward resolving issues that threaten our collective safety and well-being”.

Perhaps the recency of his suicide has nothing to do with the success of the social media campaign for ALS.  But in some small way the ALS bucket challenge has allowed us to join forces in just this way. In “and work cooperatively toward resolving issues that threaten our collective safety and well-being”. 

So, boldly, with buckets and checkbooks in hand, and with our sense of humor intact we move “head- first” in the direction of collective healing.

image credit: Time.com