[DavidC]

I'm at a greasy spoon, and I see a poster about a local girl with leukemia who's on chemo and she's upset because her parents work instead of spending time with her at the hospital. The poster asks for donations so that her parents can stay at the hospital with her.

I can understand the girl being upset that her parents work.

One of the pictures shows her holding a balloon or something like that. In the background is the tail of a minivan. She's 4.

But here's what bothers me about the poster:

I see her in front of a minivan that doesn't look totally run down (at least, the tail end of it), and I ask myself...

"Have her parents sold the car?"

"Have they sold the house?"

"Have they quit one of their jobs, to work a night job, so that they can take shifts with her?"

etc.

I mean, if someone wrote a poster and it said, "Hi. I have a sick kid, and I'd love to spend time in the hospital with her, but I don't want to sell my house." Would you help out?

I mean, if they said, "If I were to sell my car and buy a cheaper car, I'd lose like $3000 on the deal." I'd ask them what was more important, the money or the girl...

I would help them if they were a friend, but if they're a stranger, it kinda feels like you're being a sucker by helping them.

Obviously, I don't know the whole story, but these are my initial impressions.

Anyone have any comments?
--Dave.