All things dire never dry up. Yes, some eyes and ears are still wet
over the swell of reports that prove tears over tragedy pour when it
rains. Hardly surprising, therefore, if one would be waxing sloppy with a
sinking feeling that it’s a cold December in the soul.
The spirit of Christmas is not supposed to be the stuff of horror,
right? If wrong, we may as well re-imagine the Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse riding roughshod over Santa’s reindeers, and consider the
neighborhood carolers no different than a Greek chorus gritting their
teeth in despair and drowning in their own spit.
Or
say, as any optimist would spout off watered-down truths of cliché,
that hope floats. Only the dead, after all, cannot decide anymore
whether to sink or swim.
In this tide of gift-giving, how to make a splash as far as charity
is concerned and cast a wide ripple?
Beyond the body count in our own
calamity-prone shores, the numbers can be numbing where perspective pans
out to an overflow of odious data culled from the World Health
Organization (WHO):
An estimated 3,575 million people die each year from
a scarcity of safe drinking water and lack of latrines and hand-washing
facilities. At least 4,100 of these deaths are children, 90 percent of
them under age five.
Factoring in the fact that nearly 900 million worldwide, or 1 in 8
people, suffer from thirst and water-borne viruses, the WHO’s
calculation also figures a solution to the problem: Generosity worth
$20 can provide a lifetime of potable water for one person, and a dollar
invested in improved water sanitation and access (especially in some
parts of Africa where most women spend at least 40 billion hours a year
walking to search for and to fetch water) can lead to an average of $12
in economic returns.
In the face of the water crisis on a global scale, some celebrities
have set the stage for a sea-change in America’s culture of
self-gratification and materialism. A recent Manhattan charity ball had
2,000 people paying $300 to $1,000 a ticket to hobnob with Hollywood
stars who have parlayed their fame to boost water-themed fundraisers
whipped up by websites offering holiday social events.
Among the organizer is social activist Scott Harrison, a former
night-club promoter, whose crusade caught media attention when he
“commandeered” the disc jockey’s booths at Manhattan clubs and showed
slides of African children drinking muddy water to partygoers.
On behalf of Water.org website, Matt Damon has appeared in a video as
Santa Claus having a wacky talk with children, urging them to give up
their wishes for toys and buy instead the website’s water bottles for
the benefit of his organization’s indigent recipients.
Like Damon, other celebrities have taken his cue for a worthy cause
at Looktothestars.org, an online site that tracks cause-oriented
celebrities and lists 186 famous names forking over dollars to
water-oriented charities.
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