To Donate or Not to Donate, That is the Question.

I’ve gotten some responses (as in opinions) regarding my “donation page” about getting a piano seen near the top of my blog page. But most of the responses came from Jamie Berke’s blog “Berke Outspoken” and elsewhere such as Deaf Tea Time and few other places. It seems to boil down to one big misunderstanding over the differences when it comes to donation. But who am I to say?

I don’t really care if people ask for donation on their blogs or websites when done passively, however. Asking for donation by active means such as Instant Messaging, phone calls, being approached by a person or getting text messages is although another matter that I don’t really care for. It's like getting email spam in your email box or having telemarketers hit you up for a sale like a shady automobile salesman. Your personal space gets intruded when people do those things. For a person to ask for donation or hit up actively through IM like this guy has done (if the story is true) or have a supposedly deaf person peddle his ABC signing cards in the airport to get money is a bit of an, um, awkward process in my view. Of course, any kind of active begging for money is awkward when one has to grovel for money constantly.

Around town I often see several few beggars on key corner streets while holding up their signs about needing money for food or whatever. And they are a common sight where I live, often with a small dog in tow which begs the question on where the money is actually going for food. The beggar or the dog? A nagging question would stick in the craw in the back of your head wondering whether these beggars are telling the truth on why they need the money. I guess it boils down to the old rule that one shouldn't question a beggar's motive on needing the money just that you shove that money into his hand and get out of the way. Though done in a nice like way. We should try and understand the less fortunate by helping them.

Just to clear the air for all to see about my own donation page which was put up in a half-jokingly way not expecting much of anything. It was my way informing the masses that there are deaf and hard of hearing people who are in fact musicians. And I'm not alone and among deaf/hh people like Beethoven's Nightmare. I am a pianist. Though, I'm curious, how many of you would like to see a digital video of me playing a ragtime piece on my piano?

Again, thanks to those who did buy my products. It was nice but totally unexpected to see a few buy my products. It was really my case on seeing what the reaction would be like if I put up a "donation" page. If you did donate, thanks. If not, that’s fine, too. No biggie. But I will continue to play the piano and someday get a better one and attend the ever so popular Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, Missouri one of these days. This is just one of the many but small personal goals of mine.