Formerly Executive & Professional Assistant Contractor at Effective Ventures Operations
Currently ETG as a Owner of Stellaire Dental Center
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Thank you for writing this, Tobias. I can see why you feel confused about this, I think it makes sense to feel so. It sucks your friends made you feel bad about it.
I can't say what the right thing to do was in that situation, but I can say I am with you that it isn't right to be harsh to ourselves and others for not making the most optimized decision all the time.
No one needs help just because they spend their personal time and money on a stray dog, including you. I can see why this might still be hard to accept. Perhaps reframing it like this might help?
I currently live in a place where there are a lot of suffering people and animals. Most of the time, I can't help them. I try to not ignore them, though; I acknowledge them in ways I can. I think they really appreciate that. When I say no to people begging, I still kindly look them in the eye and smile to say sorry. For strays, I give them small treats.
Since I can't avoid it, I cope by reframing it as a daily reminder of why this work means so much. That I'm helping this many beings who are in need, if not more.
It hurts that I'm affected, but I see it as an indication that I still care. I think I would actually be really worried if I am no longer affected.
If true, this is insanely amazing!
As someone who lives in a 3rd world country where dengue is endemic and the healthcare systems' treatments and testing are outdated (understandably, as they are super stretched), this would be such an immense relief for us!
It never really sinks in when I learned about this until I had to experience it first hand when I got a 40C/104F fever 2 weeks ago.
Most hospitals were full. I was finally brought to a private one, but they gave me the wrong dengue test, the wrong medication, the wrong reading of my x-ray and despite being on a stretcher, they couldn't admit me or refer me to the nearest hospital either as they were both over their capacity.
It's not uncommon to take 20-30 hours sitting at the hospital hall before being able to be admitted, if at all.
Then, the costs charged after are way out of reach for most people, even in a public hospital. Most families, even the ones I know who are well off and have doctors in their families, end up in debt for years.
400 million infections per year.
The potential of alleviating so much suffering makes me teary-eyed with happiness. Cross fingers that this goes well!
oh what a great way to put it and thanks for posting this. I share about better giving for fun so I haven't sit myself down to really thinking about it deeply though I've been thinking about this in passing for a long time now.
I experience these problems often when i'm sharing about EA. My angle was off even to me but I couldn't point a finger to it. These feel like you hit the nail on the head.
- "It gets at what the target audience really wants to feel — confidence in impact — without making them do something many aren’t ready for: comparing different ways of doing good."
Yeah, i admit i made many people's eye glaze over with just a sentence or so in about the "fun" nuaces of this.
- "It avoids the reading “everybody else is doing this wrong and we’re doing it right”.
When I made this mistake, others BS alarms were blaring out and disengaged.
- "It doesn’t attack previous donation decisions."
With some charitable ones, I didn't even talk about it as I didn't quite know how to go about it without slighting their previous/current donations.
- "puts the viewer outside of the problem, looking in. It makes them a problem-solver, rather than putting them on the defensive. And if they see themselves reflected, they have the company of millions rather than feeling like they’re in the hot seat."
What a valuable skill this would be for EA comms to do more of. Looking forward to the next GWWC comms piece