I get a slew of junk mail, particularly from charities and organizations with a stated objective of making the world a better place. So why the fuck are they sending me junk mail? Is there any mail more ironic than thick solicitation envelopes from the Ardor Day Foundation and the Sierra Club? Maybe if the American Heart Association sent me twinkies and cigarettes.
I’m hardened against these pleas to fight homelessness, injustice, Republicans, environmental profiteers, misogynists, ill-funded public services, and birth defects. I don’t even open the envelopes in search of the free mailing address labels or note cards that might sway me to give the suggestion $30 donation. I suspect most people are likewise so inundated with such missives that they plum give up trying to save the world, realizing that their donation is simply paying for a lifetime of repeated donation requests.
So today, I received an innovative letter from the Smile Train organization, which provides surgery to children born with cleft palates:
"Make one gift now and we'll never ask for another donation again!"
Wow! Bluntly cut to the chase. “Make one gift now and we’ll never ask for another donation again!” So if I end you money, you’ll stop sending me pictures of deformed white babies with accusatory looks on their horrific little faces?
