Blog posts + pink cards = cash donation

I'm pretty sure that everyone knows about it by now, but in case you've been living under a bed, Brian, aka Collecting Cutch, is doing his annual Save Second Base event, and is already nearly a week into it!

This yearly event has become quite popular amongst the bloggers, which is a good thing, since it generates breast cancer awareness, and raises money for the cause as well. Oh, and there's usually prizes too, pink prizes. Who doesn't like a good pink prize every now and again? And if that isn't enough to earn your support, Brian's daily posts throughout the month just so happen to feature plenty of buxom young women, which I'm sure has had absolutely nothing to do with the ever increasing attention that this event has garnered :)

Money is usually earned from comments on his October posts, which he's still doing this year, but Brian's also added another way for people to generate money for donations (out of his pocket btw), that being by other bloggers doing posts that feature pink cards. Not only will the posts themselves earn money, but each comment on said posts will raise money as well. Not surprisingly, plenty of bloggers have already answered the call (you're all awesome!). I'm a little late to the party (I hate to use that term, but I'm tired and can't think of another word), but do just so happen to have a pink(ish) card that's been sitting in a scan folder for almost a year now...

This 2012 Panini Black Friday Kobe Bryant magenta (it's close enough to pink) Progressions probably would have never made it onto the blog had Brian not challenged all of us to get involved by showcasing pink cards this year. I mean it's a cool enough card and all, and is limited to just five copies, but I got it like two years ago (COMC), and now that so much time has passed, I don't really have anything interesting to say about it. I was never a huge fan of his, and only bought it because it was cheap, and I have a thing for the Progressions. Well, and I already had the black one, so I was thinking of going for the rainbow, but I'm pretty sure the cyan and yellow would now be out of my price range. His cards have gone up quite a bit over the last two years thanks to his passing. The Rona hasn't helped matters either.

I've been terribly busy lately, and it's looking like I will continue to be so over the coming weeks, but if I can find the time (and the want), I'll seek out some more pink cards, and see if I can put together a top ten list, or something else that'll make up for this lackluster offering.

Before bouncing, I'm gonna ask everyone to indulge me for another moment while I climb up on my apple crate. Breast cancer has become big business in recent decades. Food companies profit from it. Non-profit organizations profit from it. Sports leagues profit from it. Businesses that you wouldn't think would be profiting from it, are profiting from it. And sure, most of them to give large sums to the cause, but not nearly as large of sums as their earning from it. I'll even take it a step further, and say that the majority of these profiteers don't give a damn about breast cancer, or any other cancer for that matter. If they did, we'd have months dedicated to childhood cancers, because let's be honest, there are no worse forms of cancer than those that affect children. Basically all I'm saying is that you should be careful, and do some research, before donating to any organization, or purchasing anyone's pink products. There are a lot of non-profit groups out there who have little to no accountability. Some use donations to lobby politicians for non-cancer related agendas. Others are run by people who think it's acceptable pay themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in salary, all of which comes out of the donation coffer. And as mentioned, there are more than a few that leave absolutely no paper trail, so it's a complete mystery as to what their spending everyone's contributions on. As for all the ubiquitous pink merchandise that's being pushed each year, be careful with that too. Many companies see their stock increase upwards of 40% during October thanks to sales from their pink items, but often only end up donating 10% or less of that newfound revenue. So, technically you are helping the cause by buying those products, but you're also increasing the portfolios of other as well. Only you can decide whether it's worth it or not. My opinions on this subject are strong (be thankful I didn't go even deeper into the rabbit hole), and honestly, are unshakable. And while it might sound like I'm down on donating to worthy causes, I'm not. I fully believe in, and participate in, donating to charities. There's just a lot of damn shady people out there, who have absolutely no moral objection to profiting from the misery of others, and I just so happen to have absolutely no moral objection to calling out those kind of people, and doing everything that I can to prevent them from cashing in on the generous nature that most people possess.

Okay, I'm stepping down now. So go support Brian's efforts, and if you can afford to donate, go find a reputable charity, whose books are open to public viewing, and do so!

Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.