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Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, the magazine and website I work on, does several surveys and research studies over the course of the year to track pharmaceutical industry trends.
It is common market research practice to offer an incentive to survey respondents and for several years we followed the fairly uninspired practice of offering the chance to win one of three $50 gift cards, the chance to win an iPod or fairly conventional offers of this nature.
This year we decided that rather than standard survey incentives. we would donate money to a charitable cause in honor of survey respondents.
The Pharmaceutical Manufacturing team selected St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as our charity of choice. We felt good about the idea of helping to support, in at least a small way, St. Jude’s important work of “Finding Cures. Saving Children.”
In addition, based on our knowledge and coverage of the industry, we know that St. Jude is doing some outstanding work.
In December 2009 we deployed our first research study in which we notified our audience that we would make a donation to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in honor of survey participants.
In fairly short order we were contacted by the corporate affiliates department of the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (I did not even think to call them in advance). Great I thought! One less phone call I had to make to determine where to send the checks.
We would not make huge donations ($150 - $200 at a time which is our typical incentive budget per survey—$1500 – $2,500 over the course of the year), but I believe every bit helps when you are working toward something big and important.
Although I certainly did not expect to be given V.I.P treatment, I did expect that our donations would be politely received and perhaps we would even enjoy some level of feigned gratefulness.
I was informed that St. Jude was not interested in “our opportunity” and that the minimum donation for their corporate alliance program was $250,000.
As a highly specialized information source, I don’t even believe that Pharmaceutical Manufacturing benefits much from offering any kind of incentive for the completion of our surveys. However, I view our research incentive budget as a small opportunity for us to do a little bit of good.
The St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital does outstanding and important work, but their “business,” their “brand,” is not interested in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing’s “opportunity.” I am O.K. with that. Non-profits have been hit hard by this recession just as businesses and individuals have. Plenty of organizations are seeking donations of any size.
Maybe this situation worked out for the best. CharityNavigator.org, a resource I find to be quite helpful, features some interesting information that points to the potential need for St. Jude to improve fund raising and administrative efficiencies. Click here if you are interested in reviewing CharityNavigator.org's ALSAC-St. Jude Children's Research Hospital profile.
The Pharmaceutical Manufacturing brand is not ours, it is yours. Without our loyal audience and advertising supporters, there would be no Pharmaceutical Manufacturing. In this spirit, please e-mail me at tbecker@putman.net or post a blog comment naming the organizations you would like us to support. We will maintain a list of organizations we donate to on our website PharmaManufacturing.com.
Because we made a promise to the respondents of our 2010 Career and Salary Satisfaction Survey that we would donate to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a donation of $150.00 has been sent.
Please understand, our donations will not be huge. But as Mother Teresa so beautifully said, “We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.”
A church down the street from our house sells Christmas trees and wreaths in its parking lot every year. They always place a mini nativity decoration in front of their sale trailer--to try to "Keep the Christ in Christmas" I suppose.
Each year I chuckle when I drive by and notice the holy family huddled in front of the Airstream trailer. It is a vision that raises all sorts of amusing questions in one's mind. Most of my questions, in all likelihood, being fairly offensive to some.
This said, I believe that God has a very keen sense of humor and may very well enjoy a laugh from the thoughts that come to my mind.
Below are just a few of my questions and thoughts....if you feel inspired, add some of your own in the comments field.
- O.K., I understand that there was no room at the inn. But, wouldn't an Airstream be at least a little more comfortable than a manger?
- The humble beginnings of the King of Kings is charming enough.....but, an Airstream trailer? Come on. Humble is one thing, white trash is another.
- What did the Magi bring---a six pack, beef jerky and a propane tank?
- Maybe the holy family would have blended better with a different wardrobe selection--perhaps cut off shorts and flip flops.
Is there an afterlife that resembles, in any way, the images of heaven many of the major world religions have painted for us? I don't know and it really is not all that important to me.
It will be a wonderful surprise if utopia awaits and all of my friends and family who died before me are waiting to greet me the day I pass to the other side. In the meantime, I have chosen to live the best life I know how to live in the here and now.
But, most of us still can't help but wonder what happens to us after we die. Like I said, I don't know if a "formal heaven" awaits, but I do know that those of us who live full lives don't just disappear. I have proof.
There are plenty who are probably skeptical of this declaration of alleged proof, but here it is.
My maternal grandmother died almost three years ago and I still think of her every day. A part of her is still living within me, my sisters, my mom and other members of our family. All of the good parts of her, as well as her imperfections...she is not gone.
Still skeptical? One of the most common gifts my grandmother would give was banana bread. She would give banana breads to different members of the family (sometimes me), bring loaves to family gatherings and give loaves to neighbors as thank you gifts.
Banana bread fit her perfectly. As a young woman of The Depression, a yummy treat created by not wasting something that has gone bad (overripe bananas) fit her approach to life like a glove.
So how do I know that we do continue to live after we die?
Since my grandmother died, I have yet to make it through a banana bread baking session of my own without a few laughs, a few tears and thankfulness that my grandmother helped to teach me how to bake.
Perhaps things come into our lives when we need them most. After a relative dry spell from exposure to or involvement in the arts, two different programs have recently made their way into my life. The interesting thing is, although these two different initiatives are not formally related at all, the spirit of the efforts are quite similar-both view art as a medium for connection, healing and opportunity.
First, The Opportunity Shop founded by Amanda Englert and Laura Shaeffer. The Opportunity Shop is "a transitory, experimental space for new art in Hyde Park" and will consist of temporary gallery and performance spaces within vacant urban buildings in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. Although there is much about the Op Shop that is growing, developing and transforming, I believe an important aspect of the effort is utilizing art as a medium to bring the community together.
Also, to provide an opportunity to artists who may not have had ample opportunity to show their works. Information and performance schedules can be found at www.theopshop.org.
(Top) Window of the Op Shop's current location--1613 East 55th Street, Chicago
(Bottom) Shot of part of the space--11/28/09
(Top) Some of The Op Shop's many truly wonderful and interesting pieces
(Bottom) Amanda Englert and in the background Mary King. Amanda is one of the founders of The Op Shop and Mary is an exhibiting artist.
The second program that has recently come to the forefront of my awareness is the Global Alliance for Africa's Therapeutic Arts Program. The purpose of this program is to provide art therapy programs for at risk children within African communities. Currently, numerous art therapy professionals are providing extensive support and training to the communities within which they are operating. Ultimately, the goal is for the program to be self-sustaining and perhaps for there to be a trade craft element which would provide economic opportunity for the communities.
On December 5, 2009 a house concert and soup night was held at the home of Cathy and Bruce Moon to raise money for the cause. Cathy Moon is the Director of the Therapeutic Arts Program at the Art Institute of Chicago. She will be returning to Africa this summer.
More information about this program can be found at www.globalallianceafrica.org.
(Top) Jim Cubit, Mark Wilson and Bruce Moon--house concert to raise money for the Global Alliance for Africa's Therapeutic Arts Program.
(Bottom)East African artwork for sale at the event
(Top) Cathy Moon and Laurie Cubit
(Bottom) Global Alliance for Africa's Therapeutic Arts Program participants
Our society is constantly talking about the importance of community, family and teams. Our neighborhoods, churches, clubs, our global community. Our family and friends. Our work teams, organizational teams, even athletic teams.
“The sum is greater than the whole.” “Two heads are better than one.” Constantly we profess to value, above all else, our connectedness to our loved ones, to those we respect and to the community at large.
However, as a society we nearly worship the individual.
Individualism is so import to us that we strive with focused determination to “be true to ourselves.”
Consumer product companies sell all kinds of products that allow us to distinguish ourselves from others…to express our individual personalities. Psychologists have found that the sound of our own name is the most pleasing sound there is to our ears.
There is little wonder many of us feel conflicted much of the time. Many of us profess that others are more important than ourselves and we work tirelessly to prove this to ourselves and to the world at large.
BUT, we want things our way. Giving up a piece of ourselves borders on a mortal sin within American society. We are petrified of losing ourselves. We are horrified by the thought of selling out.
The conflict comes from the fact that we know that we must give up a piece of ourselves to have successful relationships. We must, to some extent, give way to the whole to make relationships, organizations and societies work. Any of us who are married or have children might be especially aware of this giving of ourselves as without it, it is impossible to have a successful marriage or to raise well adjusted children.
Think about a recent conflict you experienced at work, within your church or within your family. The conflict most certainly resulted from either a misunderstanding and/or the clash of different sets of opinions, needs or positions.
Relationships, organizations and societies typically remain in tact as long as there is enough commonality. As long as the parties involved are willing to lay enough of themselves “on the altar of the whole” --relationships, organizations and societies stay together. When the differences become more important or more numerous than the value of the commonalities….relationships, organizations and societies break apart.
Each of us has to constantly make these judgments. We generally will overlook small disagreements within our marriages, with our co-workers and with our society at large. We are often even willing to overlook very large differences of opinion. However, at various points in our lives we each have to make “Will I Stay or Will I Go?” decisions.
We ask ourselves, “In this specific case, am I willing to lay enough of myself on the altar of the whole to continue my participation in this relationship, this organization or even this society?”
Well, contrary to what some committed environmentalists would say, my answer is no. I do not believe that it is possible for inanimate objects to be evil. So, this begs the question…are the people who create them (the company) and/or the people who create the market for Hummers (drivers) evil?
Although evil does exist in the world, I do believe in the inherent good of the vast majority of the earth’s people. So, it is decidedly unfair and unloving to arbitrarily classify a group of people to be evil or even lesser based on their choice of transportation. And, if we classified Hummer drivers to be evil, logic would require us to classify other low-mileage and unnecessary vehicles to be evil. There are a lot of people I truly love, respect and enjoy who drive low mileage luxury vehicles. I do not have the stomach for this type of classification and those living in glass houses should not throw stones (I am far from perfect in the manner in which I use energy and other resources).
So the question introspective people might ask themselves is not whether driving these types of vehicles is good or evil, but is it fair? Is it fair to earth’s current inhabitants? Is it fair to unborn generations?
Regardless of your position on global warming or other environmental issues, oil and consumption/allocation of natural resources is a national security issue. It is a global security issue. Maybe you don’t believe Al Gore and his “Inconvenient Truth,” there are certainly compelling arguments both for and against his positions and facts. However, America is currently and for millennia mankind has warred over access to and control of natural resources. Our current battle of choice is oil; very soon it will be water.
So, the question is…even though my neighbor is a really great guy, does he have the right to contribute to prolonged warfare and battling over the globe’s limited resources? Do I have the right to do the same to my neighbor?
Even though I drive a high-mileage vehicle, does my neighbor have the right to be disappointed in the fact that I forget to turn off extra lights or make other decisions that do not make great use of our shared resources? I contend that he does have a right to be upset by this. And, he does have a right to say something to me. He certainly has the right to participate in movements that have the purpose of pressuring me to do the right thing (peer pressure can be a positive thing).
Our decisions as individuals combine to form national decisions. What we think and how we behave as individuals combines and will determine the world we hand to our children.
At some point, could fashion, status and caring for each other and future generations combine? Could it be one and the same? I have enough faith in the inherent goodness of humanity that some day, yes, I believe it could be.
I have always believed (with various levels of ability to articulate this belief) that our lives are shaped by a combination of fate (some call this god's will and many other terms) and free will.
I do not believe that we are puppets solely acting out a play while God pulls all of the strings.
However, there is no question in my mind that God sometimes has her own plan that does not always seem convenient or desirable to us.
I believe that God is accessible to all of us, but is not a micro-manger either. God let's us mess up (in my case a lot) and I do believe that God has "bigger fish to fry" than helping me to find my car keys in the morning.
I recently read a wonderful description of fate/God's influence in our lives versus our free will in an outstanding book by Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love.
"We gallop though our lives like circus performers balancing on two speeding side-by-side horses-one foot is on the horse called "fate," the other on the horse called "free will." And the question you have to ask every day is-which horse is which? Which horse do I need to stop worrying about because it is not under my control, and which do I need to steer with concentrated effort?"--Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love
