“Sister Dan”

Recently in an attempt to amp up donations to my “50 Miles to Congo” cause I began posting my web address on Lisa Shannon’s Facebook page. I was surprised at how accessible Lisa herself was on her page. Almost instantly she wrote “love it” and “Let’s all support Sister Dan!” I was thrilled about this honestly. And even though I am a touch hesitant to digest the idea of being referred to as “Sister Dan,” I was honored that she did. On Saturday, I posted on her page that I didn’t think I was going to make the $5000 goal that I had set out to accomplish. And in response Lisa wrote that if I could assemble 30 people together in one place that she would personally call in to pitch sponsorship to them. I also found out in the last week that Lisa was chosen by Oprah Winfrey as one of 2010’s most powerful women in this month’s “O” Magazine. On top of all of this, I found out that the NYC chapter of “Run for Congo Women” raised $48k on Saturday and an anonymous contributor promised to match the amount. Today I sent an email to my boss and to my CEO asking if they would be willing to allow me to get people together at IIR. I spoke to my boss briefly and she said that there may be logistical issues but we may be able to work something out. I am waiting to hear back from them.

All of this stuff is exciting and interesting but I am forced to think about what the cause is all about and how monumental a cause it is in the first place… Its partly why I chose this cause for my run. Its seemingly impossible to conceptualize and rectify in your mind. Still many people don’t really have any idea of what goes on in the Congo and it all kind of fascinates me in a way. Like, even myself, I have to confront myself sometimes about what I’m doing. Is this just a one time push to raise money or is this something I will continue to commit time and effort to? As I wrote on my site when I first took this on... Everyone knows the answer to, “do I help a suffering child?” You must act. So, I seem to have put myself in a bind… Becoming “Sister Dan” could potentially and ironically define the kind of man I choose to be. Man, if I keep going with this train of thought I just start sounding weirder and weirder… as if attempting to run 50 miles is normal!

The truth is that we all have the same answer to that question. So what ends up happening?... what is referred to as "activism"... I'm now acting like an "activist". Putting this stuff in front of people and saying, "Look at this. Are you going to deal with this or not?" Its a drag, right, a buzz kill. But, on the other hand, what else is there to do? It reminds me of the quandry Paul O'Neil found himself in with George W. Bush after visiting African countries with Bono... like weirdly realizing that I have the power to do something here and then saying something about it to deaf ears. Only to realize that I was just as deaf not 2 minutes before. All very odd...