TOMS: A Discussion on Bad Aid

We are a culture fixated on the newest thing. Whether it is the iPad, hybrid cars or some other fad, we grab hold of it in an effort to be "cool" or some other adjective. Perhaps the biggest fad of the last few years has been a five year old footwear company: TOMS shoes. On April 5, TOMS and their supporters came together for the event "One Day Without Shoes", asking people to go barefoot for a day to raise awareness concerning "those people who don't have a choice."

TOMS was founded in 2006 by Blake Mycoskie with the intention of donating one pair of shoes to the poor for every shoe purchased from his company. Since the company was founded, more than 1,000,000 shoes have been donated to children in the United States, Argentina, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Guatemala, Haiti, and South Africa.

TOMS has gained great notoriety and popularity for its socially conscious business model, allowing people to donate to the poor through their own personal consumption. However, as good as the idea sounds, there is one major problem: TOMS is the definition of bad aid. Bad aid refers to any donations, charity or other form of aid which at best do not help its subject in the way it is aimed or at worst are harmful to the recipients. There are a number of reasons why TOMS and similar in-kind donations (non-cash donations - goods and services - which can be given a cash value) are bad aid, and I want to go through them one by one to explain why each is significant. My hope is that by the end of this piece you will reconsider your assumptions concerning aid and how best to help those in need, and maybe look at TOMS with new eyes.

Silence

Often I find that the most valuable times of my day are the ones spent alone in thought. There is something special and different about time spent in silence, to the extent that productivity and creativity reach their peaks. In times like these, when the events surrounding me are full of questions and suffering, it is especially important to carve time out of the day to spend in silence, alone. Thinking. Wondering. Doubting. Wishing. Those four words describe some of my favorite things to do, things that there is never time enough in the day for.

All that being said, living in silence is the very opposite of our design. We are meant to live in community, surrounded and affected by the people around us. For all of the productivity and "solving the world's problems" which goes along with time spent alone in silence, I am never as complete or happy as I am when with others. Not only do I lose that joy when I am alone, but I begin to lose focus on those around me, a focus which is integral to who I am. With that in mind, I wrote this. I call it Silence. Enjoy.

There Is Always Hope. Always.

The last time it happened I didn't understand. I was sitting in the place I call home, a place that I love, a place full of people I love and love me. I could not understand the level of loneliness and brokenness that must have been. The best way to describe the way I felt is confused. Completely, totally confused. No matter how greatly I tried to understand, I could not. This time is no different. I do not understand, not one bit. Yet to try and understand would be to try and step into a pair of shoes which I have no business trying to stand in. I do not understand, nor should I.

In situations like these I find myself trying to rationalize or justify or explain what just happened. I try to spin it such that I can say to myself and others "don't worry, everything will be okay", even if that simply isn't the case. The thing is, things like this aren't supposed to happen where I come from, to the people I grew up with. It's like being hit by a train when you didn't even know there were tracks nearby. It's shocking and jarring and confusing all at the same time, a crazy mix of emotions that doesn't add up to anything.

Stepping Back

As much as I enjoy writing and putting my thoughts to paper, I decided that it would be a good idea to step away for a little while and let my mind decompress. That led to the recent period of silence in this space, silence that was good for me and my own experience. No more explanation is necessary - nor desired, I suspect.

The View & DeSean Jackson

Spurred on by the question of moral absolutes versus moral subjectivism, I want to highlight something we can all agree is absolutely wrong: bullying. And I don't just mean name-calling, although this is certainly included.

Anyway, The View had a young man on the show recently who was the victim of some pretty brutal harassment at the hands of some schoolmates. To their credit, the women of this often ridiculous show did a fantastic job highlighting the story and giving the young man a chance to step up and tell his side of things. Best of all, student is a huge Philadelphia Eagles fan, and the show arranged for three Eagles players (including his favorite player) to stop by and encourage the young man. DeSean Jackson, you made a fan out of me.

Feel free to watch the video clip below:



And so on...

Why Jon Stewart Wins At TV

Remember a few posts ago when I called out Tucker Carlson and others for using war metaphor? If you don't, feel free to catch up. No worries. Maybe you instead remember some of the many times I have called out politicians or religious figures for using hateful or derogatory rhetoric about the people they disagree with (here, here, or here, among other examples). Either way, I'm sure I have made clear my distaste for Glenn Beck, Pat Robertson, MSNBC and all the rest of the rhetorictocrats (copyright to Xander) which have taken over our televisions, radio stations and news outlets. Partisan hackery should have no place in today's politics, and as such I distance myself from Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, Nancy Pelosi, Michael Moore and all the rest who partake in such foolishness.

Because I reject the ideologies of both political parties (and therefore virtually all of cable news), I find myself being drawn toward whatever voice of reason I am able to find...like I've said before, I am all about moderation - the middle ground. What else to I enjoy? Comedy. What would be awesome? Combining the two.

Rep. Jim Moran: Seriously?

He looks angry, doesn't he? Anyway, we all know that politicians are prone to say stupid things from time to time. Rinse and repeat, so to speak. Foot-in-mouth is in their nature, and it seems like there is no fixing it. In this edition of Seriously?, I'll introduce you to Representative Jim Moran of Virginia. Mr. Moran is a Democrat, and as such is prone to say stupid things about conservatives, much like Tucker Carlson, Glenn Beck and others are prone to do toward the left.

Per Fox News (here), Rep. Moran, in an interview following the State of the Union Address, "blam[ed] his party's losses last November in large part on voters who 'don't want to be governed by an African-American.'" He then compared the current political climate to the one which existed just prior to the Civil War. Wait, seriously?