Tough sell

NBC 15 News in Madison had a short piece recently about a fundraiser intended to help a family pay medical bills for their son. For the purpose of this post, I'll refer to the young man as John Doe, mainly because I don't want the fellow or his family to Google later and see me (a total stranger) writing unflattering things concerning him. But if you want the name, you can check this news story from August.

I digress. The TV news story mentioned that the young John Doe had been terribly injured and is still hospitalized following his fall from a balcony August 28th. We are told the family is in financial straits and that the medical bills are huge (though nobody mentions even a rough figure or the matter of insurance). We are given information on how to write and send cheques to the John Doe Medical Fund.

So why am I drifting toward writing something negative here? Or anything, for that matter? If you consult the story above, or related ones such as here, you see that young Doe (an incoming freshman to UW-Madison) critically injured himself by pitching over a balcony rail, most likely in the act of vomiting while extremely intoxicated. The TV news story pushing the charity case graciously omitted these unflattering details. But I think these details are pertinent. Nobody wronged this fellow by doing anything bad to him. He wasn't struck down by some unforseeable malady or dreadful disease. He wasn't maimed while soldiering, or volunteering, or doing anything at all productive. As such, I put this individual and his family way, way, way down on my list of targets for monetary donations. Above panhandlers, surely, and yet well below IDF pizza.

Let me be clear: It would be great for this guy and for society in general if he were to make a rapid, full and complete recovery. That would be a very positive thing. But I think it's also good for society when people who hurt themselves in dumb ways feel embarrassed about it, suck it up and face the consequences themselves. That would actually make for an instructive, perhaps even inspiring story of growth and responsibility.