This Might Offend You!

One of the things I love about writing is that it gives me the chance to state my opinion without having to actually physically confront people. You see, I am the kind of person that tends to have strong opinions about things in my mind, but I honestly don't like controversy which means that these opinions never usually leave my mind. As a writer, I have the perfect outlet to share my thoughts in a comfortable way. But even while I have this perfect outlet, I am very conscious of who is reading what I write. I know that many of the people who read this are adults that I respect, and I have many times hit "backspace" for that very reason. I have avoided saying anything that people might disagree with, and I'm not so sure that's a good thing anymore. So tonight, I'm testing the waters. I'm sharing thoughts that not everyone will agree with. Are you excited? I am...I think! 

Anyone who has any sort of social media, or has recently talked to anyone who does, has probably heard of this "Ice Bucket Challenge" that is wildly popular right now. Now, this isn't a research paper and you're not a professor giving me a grade, so I'm not going to go into huge detail on the history and origins of it. You can use Google for that. The point is, I, quiet little non-controversial Jennie, have an opinion on it! In my opinion, the "Ice Bucket Challenge" is, for the most part....dumb. Okay, maybe "misguided and misused" are better words, but I really think it's dumb. Sure, it probably started out as a charitable thing, and I think raising

awareness for ALS  is a wonderful premise, but the majority of what I see now is "you have been nominated and you have  to do this, and if you don't you have to donate money to charity", and that irritates me. What does that say about our society, and more importantly what is that teaching the children that are undoubtedly seeing countless amounts of these videos? Isn't it maybe giving the impression that being charitable is some sort of punishment? Like "Do this, and if you don't, you have to give to charity." To me, that sounds very similar to bullying, and being charitable is not something that anyone should be bullied into. Now I know that some people do the challenge and still donate, and I think that's great.I also know that maybe I'm taking something that's supposed to be fun and over thinking it. I have been accused of that before with other things and I can handle it. But too me, something that probably started out as a fun way to raise awareness has taken a scary turn into mass amounts of people wanting to laugh and not realizing that they are going to extreme measures to avoid being charitable. I know that it's mostly harmless fun and there are certainly bigger problems to worry about,  I just think that seeing respectable adults literally dumping buckets of ice water on their heads to get out of donating money to a charity is honestly alarming. I just don't think that sets a good example, and I don't like it. If I am ever nominated for this challenge, I will not participate because I am wise enough to understand that just because someone tells me over the internet to do something doesn't mean I have to do it, even if everyone else is.

This has been my first voyage into "opinionated blogging", and I have enjoyed it. I still plan to keep talking about my faith and my feelings, that won't change. I'm just also ready to start learning how to express my opinions while still being respectful, and I hope that you will stick around as I figure it out.