This last weekend I had a great time on my 14th Multiple Sclerosis 150 Bike Tour. On a fundraising ploy, I made the challenge that if I raised $2500, I would dye my hair orange and if I raised $3000, I would dye my hair and wear a skirt on the ride. Care to guess how that turned out?
As of this posting, I have in the neighborhood of $3400 raised. I'm quite happy to do silly things to raise a little money for the MS Society. For those of you who gave me the wonderful whistles and the one marriage proposal, sorry, I'm taken.
It seemed that the banquet is where things went wrong for some. You see, the MS Society did a couple different things after the ride this time. Upon completion, you received (a very useful) head/sweat band from the MS Society. It was a trade off for patches for riding the century loop on the ride. Seriously, you would have thought that you was physically taking money away from people from some reactions.
The uproar from not getting a "patch" for the century ride -- of which I have a stack of -- somewhere -- actually caused at least one person to tell one of the MS ladies that he wouldn't return next year. *pause for effect* Yep. That's right. Somebody actually said they wouldn't come back because of the century patch. Seriously. Oh yes, it was an adult, just in case you were wondering.
I do admit, there were some 'traditional' things at the banquet that didn't happen this year that I missed: Recognition of top teams, top fundraisers (although they were on the video), rookie riders, and riders who have participated in multiple years. Missed, but nothing that would cause me major panic.
Maybe I'm 90% optimistic and only 10% pessimistic, but something really has to set me off to get THAT excited over anything. We need to remember why we are there. It isn't about us. It's about the MS Society. We are raising money for the MS Society. It isn't about a self gratification. We should be thankful for all they do for us on this ride. The support, the cheering, all the things that happen behind the scenes: It's simply incredible!
My rant is coming to a close but this has been eating at me all week so it had to come out. If the person who actually told the MS Society they wasn't going to ride over a patch is reading this -- and I hope they are -- sit back, relax, and think about it. Why are you riding this ride? For yourself or for the MS Society? Is a patch worth upsetting the wonderful ladies of the MS Society? What do you do with the patches anyway? I will gladly give you my stack of patches that are somewhere in my garage. Also, if you are reading this, I hope you are person enough to send an apology to the MS Society and plan on riding next year. It isn't about the patch, it's about people living with MS.
