This post is probably not what it first appears to be about...
During my mini book spree a couple of days ago, I'd forgotten that I also picked up a copy of Countdown to Lockdown by Mick Foley. I've been getting pretty jaded with the amount of wrestling autobiographies that have come out in the last few years. The initial run was pretty impressive, then came the "sequels" and then came the nonsense. Did anybody read Batista's effort? Now there was an example of a man totally reluctant to get involved and it showed - badly.
A few weeks back I found a copy of Hulk Hogan's My Life Outside The Ring for 50 pence in a book sale. That's a harsh price to pay for a book brother, but it's actually pretty good as the focus really is on his life outside the ring - namely multiple court cases, a divorce, being alienated as a parent and generally having to deal with the fact that even legends can hit a brick wall and find themselves quite literally looking down the barrel of a .45. I guess Hogan's version of broke and our version of it might differ slightly but you get the picture and it's all relative.
Anyway, Mick Foley is an exception to the writing rule. His writing style is easy and always interesting to read whether you like wrestling or not. Basically, Mick manages to capture the essence of what it's like simply being a man and trying to make your own way in the world whilst trying to keep any morals you might have left intact.
Although Countdown to Lockdown is mostly about the period leading up to his match with Sting in the summer of last year, there's an awful lot of peripherals too - and some of those peripherals are about his work with charities in the third world. Mick doesn't do it in a "look at me, I'm giving to charity" kind of way either… there's a chain of events and a train of thought behind it that's totally valid...
…and there was me thinking only a few days ago that I had never read a book that made me cry. Doctor Who, yes, but a book - never.
Foley writes a fair amount in the book about RAINN - a charity set-up - at least in part - by Tori Amos for some really bad shit that happens in the world, but the chair-shot for me came with his stories of the kids that he sponsored through www.childfund.org - anybody with kids can't help but be touched in some way by his story.
So, this morning I found myself at www.childfund.org and filling in a membership form. This needs to be done. Not so much for my soul - which sometimes wonders what the hell is going on in the world - but for the kid that I'll end up sponsoring. To sponsor a child comes in at about £18 a month. That's less than three packets of cigarettes - or a couple of coffee's and a sandwich at Starbucks - or a DVD… we're talking stupid money that will actually make a difference to a 6 year old kid who only wants to be a doctor and help save other people when she grows up but right now is too busy simply trying to survive to do much about the bigger dream.
Think about it - £18 to do the right thing. £18. Fuck, life is cheap.
Now stop thinking about it and do something about it. www.childfund.org
To re-quote Mick quoting somebody else: "If one person listened, it would be worth it."
