I've had a relatively minor cold. Nevertheless, somewhere about Wednesday, I started to wonder how anyone ever got through something like this without the medication I so readily swallow under ordinary circumstances. Now, I'm happy to suffer through the not-breathing, not-sleeping, messing-with-my-appetite-which-is-already-being-messed-with in the name of the greater cause, although "happy" might not be the most accurate word, but I would certainly rather be in this position than the one where I get to merrily pop pills with impunity due to the non-babyness of my body, in which case "merry" would hardly be the word either, I mean, I've been there, but my point is it got me thinking about all the reasons people suffer their way through perfectly treatable conditions, and most of the time there's no "greater cause" and it's just the universe being sucky.

Infertility is, of course, a case in point. People with perfectly treatable conditions find themselves suffering through sheer lack of cover. That's a reprehensible failure of a modern, wealthy society. Any effort to correct this failure - raffles*, online shops, or tandem skydiving expeditions - deserves support.

And so, I thought, did this effort to redistribute perfectly good surplus to needy hospitals elsewhere in the world. It's recycling! It's aid! And since I was forced to save money on basic medicine this week, someone else might as well spend it.



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*Perhaps you knew this and I'm stupid. However, I'm not so stupid as to be the only one who might potentially find this problem difficult, so if you live outside the US, don't try to buy your raffle tickets through the online shop, because you won't be able to. Instead, go directly to paypal - set up an account if necessary, you'll need one either way - and email the funds to sales (at) inconceivablejourney.com. Don't forget to attach all the relevant details in your message (such as which tickets you want). You'll have your lucky numbers in your inbox in no time. (Thanks, Jenna's husband.)