Charity must be more than simply a chore for students

This year's Student Government Association (SGA)-sponsored canned food drive was, in some respects, a success. Fourth-period classes collected 2,456 cans, enough to bring holiday cheer to plenty of needy families. It seems like a solid charitable effort from a concerned community, until you take into account the fact that 2,382 of the cans came from only two classes.

Even then, this skewed figure cannot be attributed solely to the charity of those two classes. Instead, a seemingly petty rivalry between two prolific can-collectors, Magnet math teacher Eric Walstein and Magnet computer science teacher Dennis Heidler, is responsible for 98 percent of the goods collected in this year's drive.

Walstein has long been a participant in the annual drive, but it has been only two years since Heidler encouraged his fourth-period class to participate in the event. Heidler was motivated both by his charitable spirit and his dislike of Ramen noodles, a staple of Walstein's donations. "I decided Ramen was evil," he said. The outcome of the competition and the lack of participation from the school as a whole are sad statements on the state of giving at Blair.

Charitable students are a rarity at Blair, and most students do not feel the need to give unless they are confronted with unimaginable catastrophe. When last year's tsunami devastated the countries surrounding the Indian Ocean, Blazers dug deep, contributing a total of $1,881.35 towards the SGA's tsunami relief fundraiser.

But it should not take the deaths of 200,000 people and the destruction of countless villages and towns elsewhere in the world for students to demonstrate their generosity here at home. The tsunami was an immediate crisis, but so are hunger and poverty. Blazers ought to do more during times of prolonged hardship, as opposed to just during acute crises. We should participate in the canned food drive with the same zeal with which we contributed to the tsunami fundraiser. We should find the motivation to donate to those less fortunate year round.

One conduit that works against student apathy is the SGA. The SGA organizes charitable fundraisers and coordinates events such as the canned food and blood drives. Unfortunately, the SGA has difficulty creating a charitable atmosphere at Blair.

Still, SGA President Barun Aryal was undeterred by the school's poor performance in the food drive and reiterated his dedication to an upcoming charity event. The project, called Helping Other People Eat (HOPE), aims to educate students about their spending on junk food habits over 10 days. Each student is asked to calculate the amount of money he would have spent on junk food and instead donate that money to an organization that helps fight malnutrition and hunger.

Programs such as HOPE depart from previous charitable drives in that they actively seek to educate students. Only pro-active charitable efforts can cure the atmosphere of apathy that pervades Blair's hallways.

Charity is not meant to take away hard-earned dollars. Rather, it is an investment in the community and an exercise in compassion. Blazers must overcome a lack of awareness, recognize the everyday hardships that face the less fortunate and open their hearts on a regular basis.