Trolling the Street Again
There's nothing quite like walking door to door in one's neighbourhood, in a canvass representing the interests of a charity soliciting research or operational/service funds to get to know the people you're surrounded by. This enables you to assess character and the quality of an individual's sense of belonging, of responsibility to the community like little else does, other than volunteering one's time. Knock at someone's door to solicit money and some people, regardless of the cause, reel back in horror.
On balance, at the other extreme, there are those who express gratefulness to you for doing the volunteer work they would prefer not to do themselves. Sandwiched in between is the greater mass who recognize the inevitability of the ritual of the door-t0-door canvass in support of causes with charitable status and who wearily submit to it, with token donations. Token or not, though, for the canvasser out there doing something he/she also hates to do - but does it because it's got to be done - even a token donation is welcome.
It shouldn't be this way. There are so many social, activist, research and service-providing groups in society which fill the gaps that government cannot adequately fund. That it becomes everyone's responsibility in that society to lend practical support for a purpose that enhances quality of life and opportunity for assistance on behalf of everyone needing it should be well recognized. And people should respond accordingly. After all, it isn't too much to ask that people who think nothing of buying junk divert the price of one fast-food item to charity.
Once you've become acquainted with the intricacies of confronting people at their front doors with the gentle reminder that it's that time again you realize what you're up against. Of course the responses are as varied as peoples' idiosyncratic reactions to any situations. Over time you learn which houses to dread approaching, and which you approach with confidence. There are those who view the canvasser with disdain and decline to donate so much as a dollar; others whose perennial gambit is to claim already having donated by other means. It's their right, after all.
Yesterday was my second foray in April for the Canadian Cancer Society. In January I'd canvassed for the March of Dimes, and in May I'll be out there for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. And then, I don't intend to canvass for any other charities again this year, although I've gone out in the past for Heart & Stroke, Diabetes, Salvation Army, Arthritis and others over the years, all good causes needing public support to fund public education, research, and assistance to those in need.
I learn to value and appreciate many of my neighbours for their generosity of spirit and kindness, from those who write cheques for $50, to those who ask for $10 change from a $20 bill. I'm grateful, as indeed I should be, to those who give me a $2 donation. I've got to laugh when a man whose wife never seems to be home, but who holds all the cash and even the cheques peers out of his window to see who's ringing the bell, then doesn't respond because he's been embarrassed once too often.
I have to discipline myself not to think badly of the young mother of two children who loves to show off her family's relative wealth, and who responds to my solicitation with the hushed self-reverential tones of one who gives much when she informs me she had already given $20 earlier in the month to a solicitation from the local police association. Just as I receive similar news from her neighbour, another young woman of blessed means who says she'd love to give, but they've already bought a $100 ticket for a luxury-house draw.
In the end, the generous ones who support these public causes will more than balance out the 50% who cannot find it in themselves to part with a few dollars in support of agencies whose agendas support us all.
I've got my own problems, still struggling with the philosophical issues of holding some people in low esteem as a result of their demonstrable selfishness.
On balance, at the other extreme, there are those who express gratefulness to you for doing the volunteer work they would prefer not to do themselves. Sandwiched in between is the greater mass who recognize the inevitability of the ritual of the door-t0-door canvass in support of causes with charitable status and who wearily submit to it, with token donations. Token or not, though, for the canvasser out there doing something he/she also hates to do - but does it because it's got to be done - even a token donation is welcome.
It shouldn't be this way. There are so many social, activist, research and service-providing groups in society which fill the gaps that government cannot adequately fund. That it becomes everyone's responsibility in that society to lend practical support for a purpose that enhances quality of life and opportunity for assistance on behalf of everyone needing it should be well recognized. And people should respond accordingly. After all, it isn't too much to ask that people who think nothing of buying junk divert the price of one fast-food item to charity.
Once you've become acquainted with the intricacies of confronting people at their front doors with the gentle reminder that it's that time again you realize what you're up against. Of course the responses are as varied as peoples' idiosyncratic reactions to any situations. Over time you learn which houses to dread approaching, and which you approach with confidence. There are those who view the canvasser with disdain and decline to donate so much as a dollar; others whose perennial gambit is to claim already having donated by other means. It's their right, after all.
Yesterday was my second foray in April for the Canadian Cancer Society. In January I'd canvassed for the March of Dimes, and in May I'll be out there for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. And then, I don't intend to canvass for any other charities again this year, although I've gone out in the past for Heart & Stroke, Diabetes, Salvation Army, Arthritis and others over the years, all good causes needing public support to fund public education, research, and assistance to those in need.
I learn to value and appreciate many of my neighbours for their generosity of spirit and kindness, from those who write cheques for $50, to those who ask for $10 change from a $20 bill. I'm grateful, as indeed I should be, to those who give me a $2 donation. I've got to laugh when a man whose wife never seems to be home, but who holds all the cash and even the cheques peers out of his window to see who's ringing the bell, then doesn't respond because he's been embarrassed once too often.
I have to discipline myself not to think badly of the young mother of two children who loves to show off her family's relative wealth, and who responds to my solicitation with the hushed self-reverential tones of one who gives much when she informs me she had already given $20 earlier in the month to a solicitation from the local police association. Just as I receive similar news from her neighbour, another young woman of blessed means who says she'd love to give, but they've already bought a $100 ticket for a luxury-house draw.
In the end, the generous ones who support these public causes will more than balance out the 50% who cannot find it in themselves to part with a few dollars in support of agencies whose agendas support us all.
I've got my own problems, still struggling with the philosophical issues of holding some people in low esteem as a result of their demonstrable selfishness.
Labels: Realities
posted by Pieface @ 12:42 PM
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