Will You Sponsor Me?
I have mixed feelings about people at work when they ask me if I will sponsor them.
No, wait.
I am a decent person, but I know a bit about what is going on and if I want to give people my money, I will. I would also like for people to tell me about which causes need money, so I can see if I can help them. But I won’t wait for someone I’m not really that close to to stand at my desk and tell me that our employer has given them the time off to do something more fun than working (that they would probably have done anyway) and for them to ask me to give money for their chosen cause. Not mine, theirs. And while they are off raising this money I am sitting at my desk earning money that I will later give to them to give to the charity I have not considered giving money to.
I know what you’re thinking, but you’re wrong. I am a nice chap. People who don’t normally use the words “nice” or “chap” even say: “That Cliff - nice chap.” I am civil and mild mannered and compassionate. Fuck you - I am.
On a monthly or annual basis I give to Amnesty Interational, Cancer Research UK, The Western Front Association, The Tibet Foundation, Free Tibet Campaign, and theTricycle Foundation. This year I also gave to the Tsunami Appeal, The Sudan Crisis, the Tibetan children’s school and orphanage in Dharamsala, The Tibetan Community of London, the Wat Arun temple in Thailand, the in-law’s church and Breast Cancer Research. I give second hand clothing and sellable cluter to Oxfam and the British Heart Foundation and I buy books and gifts from their shops. I give money at my kid’s school fundraisers so they can buy computers and build gyms which may or may not be complete before my kids leave school, but other kids will benefit from them. I recycle ALL plastic, paper, garden waste, tins and glass. I sponsor my friends when they do cool and selfless things.
But collecting at my desk for an activity for something else? Well, you know what I’m saying and don’t pretend you don’t.