Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Charity or simply begging?

In the last few months Go Fund Me has become very popular on Facebook. I know it was originally set up to help people with such things as medical expenses they could not handle. I have donated to accounts for friends in such circumstances. Living on social security I know that sometimes overwhelming things happen. I do not have a problem with the basic reason this organization was started, but I believe it has reached a ridicules level and is in danger of simply amounting to begging.

A little while ago a male Facebook friend of mine announced that he had just finished and is in the process of publishing a children's book. This person is also a talented fine art artist who sells some of his creations for several hundred dollars. In addition to that income he is a life coach and a retired minister. Oh and he also has close to 5,000 FB friends. Pondering how he is going to promote/sell his book, one of his friends suggested a Go Fund Me account to help with expenses. He responded, "That's the best idea yet."

My response to his response was, "What the hell!" Until I read that I had a great deal of respect for the man. Now I am close to deleting him as a friend.  Apparently he is not who I thought he was.

Granted his book could help children of all ages deal with fear, but expecting other people to pay for it is ridicules, in my opinion. I finished my book, Journey of an Enlightened Egotist, in 2010 and I am sure it could help a great deal of people. So far it is unpublished in the normal manner due to a lack of money. There is no way that I would expect my friends to dip into their pockets to pay for publishing and promotion. I would rather give it away, which I have done many times.

My question still hangs out there, is Go Fund Me charity or simply begging?






1 comment:

  1. This morning I see that my friend actually had the nerve to start a Go Fund Me account to promote and pay for publishing his new book. In turn I actually deleted him from my friend list.

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