For those that know me well know that I spend a good amount of time on Linked In. That is my preferred outlet for pretty much everything I do online. I’m not a Facebooker or Instagram user or even a Twitter participant. It’s pretty much Linked In or nothing. On one of my daily scrolls through Linked In last week, two entries from my network caught my eye. A tale of two postings if you will.
In the first post, one of my connections (Brent DeRaad, CEO of Visit Tucson) put up photos of himself and one of his friends participating in a 200,000 pound lift off. They literally spent all day in the gym pumping iron in an effort to lift 200,000 pounds in a single day. The cause? To raise money for tourism employees that had been laid off due to COVID-19. What an awesome concept. Use your time and talents to generate treasure for people in need. In the end they raised $8,450 for the cause.
The second post was quite different. The second one was put up by a former professional athlete that I have met a couple of times. He now works in the pool and landscape business and posted an ad (basically) about how they build 176,000-gallon pools with ease (aerial photo of just such a pool included). For perspective, the average size pool is less than 14,000 gallons. The one the athlete posted is 13-times the size of the pool you or your neighbor have in your back yard. 13-times the size and likely 13-times the cost. At a time in our world where people are struggling to make ends meet, posting a photo of a backyard pool that may as well be at a 5-star resort is a little tone deaf in my eyes. Should the pool company cease to market their wares? Of course not. There are just much better ways of doing it.
So on one hand, we have a person giving back in a very meaningful way. On the other, we have a company talking about how they can build what we would assume to be a $500,000 pool in someone’s back yard. That is a wide spectrum. One post is socially aware of an issue in their community and is doing something about it. The other is socially unaware to the nth degree.
As we go into the holiday season, which end of the spectrum are we going to fall upon? We choose the former, the one that strives to solve an issue in the community. With that in mind, we are making a contribution to Brent’s cause to support those that need to be lifted up back in my hometown of Tucson.
During these trying times, the world needs more people that are socially aware and also want to help solve the challenges that many are facing. Thanks to Brent and his crew down in Tucson for doing your part to make the world a better place.