Here are my final thoughts on the Ice Bucket Challenge.
I apologize in advance if I'm too blunt in this post and I don't mean to offend anyone, but just have to speak my truth.

1. Decades of raising billions of dollars for various "find the cure" causes has done very little for the world, except make drug companies extremely wealthy. No disease has been cured in America in over 50 years (since polio). Within these organizations and causes, there is literally no focus on natural health. Only creating more medication that brings in billions of dollars. 

"Create the problem. Sell the solution"

Even the "Breast Cancer Awareness" weeks are full of such irony. They're putting a pink ribbon on food items full of chemicals that only contribute to a toxic body which in turn, promotes cancer cells to grow. So much of this money goes towards staff and making corrupt companies very wealthy. There is very little profit in the "cure".

Do you notice that your lips dry more when you stop using your chapstick? Do you notice that you get more dandruff when you stop using your dandruff shampoo? Do you notice that you get more acne when you stop using ProActive? There is a reason for this...and it's being done intentionally. Companies only profit long-term when you keep coming back and they form a dependency in you. I'm not saying this as a paranoid conspiracy theorist...But rather a simple observation: The truth is suppressed for profit. None of these companies care about finding the real cure. It would put them out of business. It's all about money. 

Before this challenge, the NIH has already given $40 million to ALS research this year. Last year, the ALS association took $64 million. (Out of that amount, only 10% of it was donated to research!) Now I used to be the Vice President of a health-based non-profit and know very well what it takes to run one. You know who's REALLY benefiting off of this viral trend?? These 5 companies: Biogen Idec Inc, Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Isis Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi, and Bristol-Meyers Squibb Co (And don't even get me started on the cruel animal-testing)

2. Stop following trends just to feel like you're a part of something. Please grow up from this high school mentality of wanting to fit in. The ONLY reason people participate in this is from a place of social guilt or wanting to fit in. Out of the millions of causes out there..... is it just a coincidence that all of a sudden everybody is so passionate about ALS at the same time? Or is there social 'herding' psychology happening here? Some argue that the surge of “icing videos” is just another excuse for the self-obsessed to enjoy the spotlight on social media and to “doing good” superficially. Now if you DID take part in this challenge, I understand your desire to defend yourself. But please don't take this posting as an attack on you.

3. While ALS is a serious disease and is a worthy cause..... There are more children that die in ONE WEEK from lack of water and food, than the number of Americans who will be diagnosed with ALS in the next 25 years combined.

4. America is in the middle of a huge drought right now, especially California. This is not the best time to be wasting water....Water has been privatized and sold for profit. And is now being depleted at a record pace. Water WILL be the next "oil" that countries will be fighting over. However, even with the picture used, wasting the water is not the main point here, but one of them. ALS causes roughly 5,600 deaths a year. Lack of access to clean water causes 3,000,000 deaths in the same time period.(and while yes, you can point out other ways we waste water...it doesn't take away from this one)

5. Being aware of something, while important, does very little to fix things. It takes action. People have been "aware" of cancer, war, poverty, corruption, etc.... for 1000's of years.
So a few celebs poured water on their heads and now some people who didn't know what ALS was....suddenly do. And? What happens next....? 99.99% of these people won't take any physical action to do anything about it and they definitely won't be talking about ALS two months from now. 

It's really this simple:
Save the water.
Focus on natural healing.
Stop following trends.
And stop making drug companies rich.
Let us figure out how to cure the CAUSE of illness....rather than profiting off of managing the SYMPTOMS of illness.

AND ONE LAST POINT I HAVE TO ADD:
This post is NOT bashing ALS or being negative about the fact that people are uniting for something. Discussions like this actually benefit the future of ALS much more than people throwing ice on their heads. Why? Because it creates important dialogue. A social fad will fade with time and nothing will be done about it once it fades out. People are doing it for all the wrong reasons. They're not uniting to fight something. They're making a fun video for attention and moving on with their lives. This is what always happens. Most people aren't willing to put in the work to create real changes. They like instant gratification, entertainment and fun. (This is why everybody has a passionate political opinion, but most of them are not politically active). See....I actually CARE about these people suffering long-term, beyond this temporary fad....(and for all diseases) These fake "raise awareness" campaigns only feed money into drug companies (which ironically BENEFITS off of suppressing the cure) So you see......By donating to this fad, you're actually supporting the continuation of the disease (not the cure for them) Because drug companies only care about profit. You think they're going to "fund" the cure? Get real. 
As I stated earlier, the real discussion should be about the causes and not the cures. The same is true for poverty. 
Why does the world keep putting band-aids on wounds instead of preventing the wounds to begin with? If you care about ALS, then all money and discussion should be going into the cause; Plus there are plenty of volunteer opportunities available for you long after this fad is over. How many people will be doing anything about this next month? The same amount of people still talking about Kony. (oops). But if you care more about how others perceive you, then go ahead and dump ice on your head to give you an instant-gratification ego-massage. Just know that it's more about you, than it is about people with ALS. Don't lie to yourself and think otherwise. If somebody actually cares about a cause, they put in the proper time to dedicate themselves on a consistent basis and put in the actual work to make real changes. Not JUST participate in these fun little games. 

As Scott Gilmore says: "It is short, immediately understandable, and like the most popular forms of slacktivism, it is easy to do, entertaining to watch, and narcissistically self-promoting".....
When we decide where to spend our charitable dollars, we need to consider three factors.
1. Where is the greatest need?
2. Where will my dollars have the greatest influence?
3. What is the most urgent problem?

The ALS challenge fails all three of these tests. 

First, ALS research is not an especially great need in public health. It is classified as a rare disease and, thankfully, only about 600 people die from it every year in Canada. That sounds like a lot, but that is not even close to the top 20 most fatal diseases according to StatsCan (the top three being cancer, at 72,000 deaths per year; heart disease, at 47,000; and cerebrovascular disease, 13,000).

Second, it is already extremely well funded. As this chart from CDC data shows, last year ALS killed 6,849 people in the U.S., and attracted $23 million for research (a ratio of $3,382 per death). Heart disease, by contrast, killed 596,577 but only raised $54 million (a paltry sum of $90 per death). If you want your donation to make the biggest difference, fund the diseases that need the most money.

Finally, ALS research is not an urgent need. If you want to help where time is of the essence, then look to Syria (greatest international refugee crisis in a generation), Ebola (now a full blown global health emergency), or the Central Africa Republic (quietly bleeding to death unnoticed by the world).

We aren’t rational, though. Typically, you will spend more time considering where to order a pizza and what to put on it, than you will deciding where to donate your charitable dollars. As a result, the real threats, the diseases that are far more likely to kill you and your loved ones are ignored. This is why the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is bad for you, and me, and all of us. Instead of supporting what is most needed, we support what is most amusing" - Apollo Poetry

#IceBucketChallenge

Sorry but I won't be joining the bandwagon with the ice bucket challenge, and it's not because Im a heartless person that doesn't care about people that have the disease, I just have different opinions about the movement that I will keep to myself since I've already lost one friend for my stance on the matter.. People can be so judgmental and sentimental. Ask yourself honestly before the ice bucket challenge did you even know what ALS was?? Also, water is a precious resource in a lot of different countries. It doesn't seem fair that people are dying from dehydration every day and we're dumping something that could save their lives on our heads for fun.. That just doesn't sit right with me. Hate me if you want to but I think for myself and that's what I have to say about that. No hard feelings, it's just the truth. Let's stop wasting water, and start using the ice bucket challenge to not only help people with ALS but also, the kids in Africa, who don't have access to this precious resource that we've all been wasting. Come on guys, we can turn this around! - Ashley Marriah Rita #Youhave24hours #Thewaterchallenge