So, here’s my story for today — and its only 9:24 am on the East Coast.
(Originally Posted at https://medium.com/@KarenGrossEdu/)
So, here’s my story for today — and its only 9:24 am on the East Coast.
I launched a weeklong online auction, Lady Lucy’s Laugh Giraffe Auction. It ends August 5th at noon. Folks bid on giraffe, many of which appear in Lady Lucy’s Laugh Giraffe Journey. Here’s the auction site.
(click to visit) Lady Lucy’s Laugh Giraffe Auction
Now, the net proceeds go to buy books for kids, schools, libraries that are under-resourced. And, other net proceeds go to the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, the only non-profit dedicated to saving giraffe — and giraffe face extinction, sadly. So, you get a giraffe and a book and you do good and feel good. Seems all positive — so far.
For kids returning to school, the book has giraffe jokes and giraffe facts that they can share with new friends. They can even make giraffe from the pipecleaner set available as an auction item (as are pipe cleaner giraffes already made by the authors). They can use the book to exercise their reading muscles before school starts again. So, they improve skills and have something to share at the beginning of a new year.
But, here’s an interesting lesson. There is one adorable giraffe (who appears both on the cover of the book and inside the front cover) who has not sold. No one has even bid on him. Each morning he posts a tweet, LINKEDIN and Facebook message essentially saying this:
Message or variant posted:
Ok. Now I’m beyond sad. More than 1,300 people have visited Lady Lucy Giraffe Auction site and not one person has bid on me. How’s that possible? I’m having an identity crisis or some other kind of crisis. Please bid on me. Auction ends Aug. 5th at noon; that’s just around the corner. Do good + feel good as proceeds go to save giraffe and buy books for kids. And one giraffe — me — will feel way better. I’m even on the cover of the book and inside the front cover. Doesn’t anyone think I’m worth it? And, you get a signed book with me too. I am waxing on and on and on and on. There isn’t enough lettuce today to ease my anxiety.
So far, three days in, there are still no bids. I don’t get it. I am tempted to suggest that this has a larger meaning — about empathy and our empathy engines being shut down. I get that strangers might not respond positively or with action. Perhaps they just read the message and smile and say, “cute.” But of the 1,300 bidders, no one wants to help the giraffe? I’m a tad tongue in cheek but not really. If it were one of my friends, I’d buy him and give him away to a kid — even a kid on the street in DC who is visiting and looks like he/she needs a friend.
Not that long ago, a woman posted a tweet about her child losing her toy giraffe at Logan Airport. The child was devastated. I offered one of the giraffe from our collection FOR FREE. She didn’t take me up on it although many people thanked me for being kind. Her tweet got lots of attention, in part because we have all had stuffed animals at some point in our lives and they meant the world to us. Transitional objects among other roles.
So, what’s up with this adorable giraffe no one wants? I don’t know how to post images here on Medium but he is on Facebook and he is on the auction site as a featured giraffe — — number 001. Look at him. Smile. Consider why he is sitting there alone. Here’s the auction site again: https://www.32auctions.com/LLGiraffe
Maybe you all can explain why no one is bidding on this giraffe? Does it speak to larger issues or is everyone on vacation? Is doing good and helping kids and giraffe just not high on the priority list? I get the saving giraffe may not seem necessary — at least our government is disinclined to preserve nature. Helping kids — all our kids — seems like a most worthy goal. And a book of jokes that can be read by recalcitrant readers too seems like a fun summer and get ready for school table setter.
I’ll add this post to the Lady Lucy’s Quest book series website. Perhaps someone will bite (so to speak) or at least offer a cogent explanation.
www.ladylucysquest.com