The Summer Of Ice Water

Have you dumped a bucket of ice water on your head? Me neither, but a lot of people, from Ethel Kennedy to Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates to Oprah, have. Years from now when we look back on the summer of 2014, we'll sigh nostalgically and say, "Oh yeah, that was the year everyone was pouring ice water over their heads."

You probably know that the #IceBucketChallenge is connected to raising money for the ALS Foundation. What's been somewhat obscured as the Challenge has gone viral is that originally getting doused with ice water was a way to avoid donating to ALS. The Challenge was phrased as either get dumped with ice water or donate $100 to ALS. Donations to the Foundation are sharply up over last year, so presumably lots of people are donating money as well as taking an ice bucket to their heads, and that's worth cheering about.

The silliness of the Ice Bucket Challenge, plus the serious shower of money to fight a horrible disease, is a nice break from all the bad stuff going on this summer, so crank up the ice maker and grab a bucket. It's all for a good cause.