No Good Deed

You know the rest….no good deed goes unpunished.  At least, I think that’s the phrasing.  Decades when I was down to quarters in my bank account (Truth!), I joined the Southern Poverty Law Center and supported public television.  But, I believed in doing that.  And, although, my contribution to PBS has elapsed, I still am a stalwart donor to SPLC.

And, there’s the rub.  There is not a day that goes by that I am not reminded by them to up my membership.  I get countless notices by mail and email.  They send me their teaching materials, their books and their newsletters.  And, I’m grateful that they exist and do the important work they do.  But, I cannot read any of it.  Why?  Because it depresses the hell out of me.

It just reminds me that the more things change, the more they stay the same.  The segregation and violence of my youth back in the 50s has been replaced by the same racist and hateful incidents of today and openly sanctioned by the President of the allegedly Free World.

And, so, I do what I can to make the world a better place.  In my case, it’s making contributions to organizations like Oxfam and the League of Women Voters.  Causes that support environmental concerns and world hunger.  And what happens as a result?  More of the same.  Every similar cause appears in my mailbox asking for my support, sending me free address labels so I’ll feel guilty every time I use them if I don’t pay up.

Then, there are the online orders.  I practically order everything online.  I know I’m one of millions responsible for the demise of malls and shopping centers but, because I can’t walk for miles anymore, I have a good excuse.  I am a fan of overstock.com and have spent a fair amount on rugs, pillows and other household goods.  But, does that give Joss & Main and Wayfair an excuse to clutter up my promotions mailbox?

I bet you’re thinking….just unsubscribe.  Oh yeah….sounds so easy.  I cannot tell you the number of times I have unsubscribed only to have them continue the onslaught the next week!  Not to speak of the unreasonable of sites I need to unsubscribe.  Where to begin?!!

And then there are the Democrats.  Of which I am one.  Yes, I donate monthly to Act Blue.  Trust me, I am definitely rethinking that.  Now, I am ripe for every “emergency” in every political race in every state in the union.  If I contribute that day, it will be matched by 2x, 3x, 5x, 10x.  I was a sucker for about a month then I got jaded.  Are you kidding me?  My monthly contribution isn’t enough?  Really?  I just don’t trust what you’re sending me!  In the time I’ve been writing this, I’ve received 10 requests for ‘mo money ‘mo money!

I have even sent money to some of the candidates, so I am one of the minimum 130,000 for four candidates all of whom ended up on the stage last week.  Kamala, Elizabeth, Pete and Beto have all benefitted by my meager support, but, evidently, that wasn’t enough because my new best friends need to reach out to me multiple times a day!  It’s just a bit overwhelming.  All this love….

Did someone think email was a good idea?  I use it, of course, but how often do you actually get an email you actually want to read?  Especially, now that I’m retired and not required to read any work related stuff, I can count on one hand any truly important emails I get in a month.  The most enjoyable ones are from you, my friends.

This morning, I did a huge dump.  Hmmm…maybe that wasn’t the best choice of words.  I actually dumped about 300 emails into the trash.  And since I’ve been writing this, I’ve received 30 emails that I will never read and will be dumped as well.

All in all, I want to do my part.  I want to support causes that make a positive difference in the world.  I just don’t want to be punished by a never-ending bombardment of mail and emails for what I think is doing the right thing.