Blog Guilt

I saw this in passing via email and on other blogs.  This women needs a liver transplant or she will die, and soon.

I saw it a couple of days ago, yet passed.  I didn't post it.  I think I am the only PR blogger who didn't.  And now, I am really late.  I debated, do I post now?  Do I ignore it and risk being thought insensitive or uncaring?

Why did I pass on it initially?  I am feeling guilty and uncomfortable for doing so.  I can claim that I was busy, that I saw a bunch of other folks had already posted and my adding it wasn't going to make any difference.  True, maybe, but I still feel like a heel.

I have no personal connection to this person.  I don't know anyone who has ever needed a transplant, so I have no internal recognition of how difficult it is to get one.  Somehow, this situtation just didn't hit me emotionally. 

No one has called me out on this, but I am feeling the blog peer pressure all the same; the first time I have ever felt it this strongly.  So, now I have posted, while transparently acknowledging my discomfort.  And still, my intellectual side is coldly analyzing and throwing out thoughts at me about how this is an example of the effect of blogging on people, communities, etc. I just don't know what else to say [she writes with a sigh, and closes out the post].

Comments

[david parmet]

You know when I first heard about this.. and got IMed by everyone I knew in PRdom telling me to post about it.. for about a minute I did think it was yet another one of those 'there's a kid in Kansas with an elgongated femur and he wants everyone to call Bill Gates who will send him to Disney' sort of things...

I don't know if that's a rational response to all the BS that gets circulated around the interwebs these days. Or is it just me being old and cynical.

[John Wagner]

Elizabeth:

When I saw the notice popping up everywhere, I wondered if I should include something about it, too.

But I didn't ... in part because it had already received so much visibility, and in part because I don't think there's a lot people can do when someone is waiting for a transplant.

In other words, I don't think you should feel guilty.

[Robert French]

I thought twice about it, too. And I come from Easter Seals where you help every child any way you can.

At first I thought, this is a little strange. Is it really appropriate? Then I realized that it is important for her. The likelihood that any of this will lead to any real solution is unlikely, in my opinion.

But, stranger things have happened. So, I posted it. Let's keep a good thought going and maybe something will happen for her.