And if I were more skilled with this rattin’ frattin’ blog I’d know how to change the color of my title and the fonts in the post and be all cool and all of that. But, ummm … I’m not up to speed yet. So like my AwakeFriend (who is colorblind) you’ll have to imagine the colors.

Have you heard of the Product (RED) Campaign? I’m having problems with it. When I first heard of it, I thought, “Brilliant!” Then, I thought, “Gross over-commercialism at it’s finest … blech.” Then my brainiac pendulum swung back and I thought, “You know … not everyone can be as puritanical and as philanthropic as you are. Most people need an extra boost.” See me … I want the swords beaten into plowshares … like NOW! I’m tired of waiting. I want these companies to give, not just a portion of the profits on their specific products, but the entirety of the profits. Because, come on! How much would it hurt Apple to give up the profit on one single line of iPods? How many iPods do they have? They are only giving up $10 on this particular iPod that they are selling for $199. But then, that is the brilliance of Bono. He is patient. I am not.

Then I heard about a guy in Canada. I follow his blog occasionally. It’s called Waving or Drowning (which I find highly amusing and thought provoking; both the name and the blog). It turns out that he’s had some of the same thoughts that I had about the whole Product (RED) Campaign, with one large exception. He had a great idea to do something about it. His idea is that there are a lot of people out there in the big wide world who would give just $10 to help with getting AIDS medications to Africa and he has set up a system to do that. You can go to his blog and read his challenge here, then give $10 via Paypal to him. He is promising to pass it all (100%) along to the Stephen Lewis Foundation (a non-religious foundation based in Canada which assists children who have lost parents to AIDS). So check him out. If you feel it’s worthy, give him $10 (Canadian) to help with this cause. I did it and he even sent me an e-mail to say thankyou. Somehow it feels better than buying more stuff to clog the arteries of my house just to make myself feel as tho I did good.

UPDATE: Mike Todd (the guy in Canada) has written a post dealing with some of the concerns that people might have. You can read it here. Also I thought I’d post the text of his original challenge in the body of this post … so these are Mike’s words below:

I’ve come to the conclusion that I love this program. And I hate it. Let me try to explain why.

The love part is easy. I love it because it will provide funds for saving lives. What’s not to love about that?

Here’s the part with which I’m having trouble. I hate it because it’s a sad commentary, a mirror if you will, reflecting the reality of our culture back to us. The currency of the Kingdom is love. The currency of this material, self-centered culture is “stuff.” Bono is brilliant as he has realized this, and knows we will not give out of love. HIV/AIDS is killing people in numbers too horrible to give voice to. And while this troubles us, it apparently doesn’t trouble us enough to give out of love. The brilliance of Product (Red) is that it will get the money out of us anyway. No love? Fine, then we’ll appeal to your need for the other currency, for stuff. Want a new Gap shirt, and a trendy one at that? Great. Here you go, and by the way, a couple of bucks will go to life-saving drugs.

In short, I long for a world that operates on Kingdom currency. It’s coming… just not fast enough. In the meantime, I will grit my teeth, smile, and promote the Product (RED) campaign. Heck, I’ll probably end up wearing a red t-shirt. Hypocritical? Maybe. Paradoxical? Definitely.

Now for the challenge. Robert and I have been discussing for some time the need for us to start another campaign to raise some funds here at WorD.

We’ve been looking at the (RED) iPod specifically. When you spend $200 US on the iPod, Apple will contribute $10 to the Global Fund. (Robert has changed his mind about Christmas, BTW, so don’t bother emailing his wife.)

I don’t have a clue what the profit margins are like on the iPod, but $10 doesn’t strike me as a lot of money. Let’s be realistic. It’s not. Here’s the choice: You can lay out $200, get a new iPod, and contribute $10 to a good cause. Or, you can just contribute the $10. We believe we can get 1000 people to donate $10 each. We’d like $10 from everyone in the developed world, but we’ll settle for you, and everyone you know. And when we’re done, we’ll pass the money–all of it–along to the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

First, we need your $10. Just as importantly, we then need you to reach out to all your contacts. Post a link on your blog, send out an email to your friends, hang a banner from your window… whatever it takes. We’ll keep you posted on how we’re doing.

Together, we can do this. Help prove us right. Thank you.