Seems like everyone gets a dozen of "please help me raise money" emails a year. People they know that do rides, walks, runs, crazy things to raise money for different charitable organizations.

Yes, I'm going to be one of those people writing those emails. Who knows, you might (or already have) received one of those emails from me. Heck, if you get one, I'm going to ask for money for two different rides at once.

In today's world of email and spam, it's easy to think that everything is robots and copy-and-paste. It's easy to throw these little bits of digital information into the digital trash, figuring that if someone spent two minutes sending a single email to an address book full of emails, they're really not doing a lot for charity. It's simply easy to ignore these things - and with every email you trash it gets even easier.

But hold on. Before you throw out my email - and those from the others that send you these this year, consider a few things.

Every person in every event is doing it because they believe in that cause.

Yeah, that's pretty obvious. But it's easy to forget that when you hit the delete button. People have a lot of reasons that they sign up for a charity fund walk, run, or ride: They know someone that suffered from the disease; They've been persuaded by a friend; They just want to make the world a better place. Those reasons make us go to a website and sign up.

Going through with it, that's a completely different story. They only get up early in the morning to train because they believe in the cause. They give up a day or more of their life walking, running, or riding because they believe in the cause. They try to get their friends to give money for their charity because they believe in the cause. And they definitely put up with the physical pains and soreness afterwards because they believe in the cause.

They start with the smallest of intentions, but the efforts that they end up pouring into these events is mammoth. They only go through with it because they really do believe that it is possible to eradicate cancer, stop the rising tide of AIDS, or help to fund the fight against Parkinson's.

Each walker, runner and rider believes in themselves.

When I did the AIDS Ride in 2001, I trained for countless hours, got the very best Cannondale that I could afford, bought all the right gear for a 270 mile ride. Halfway through Connecticut, while struggling on one of the toughest hills of the ride, I heard a ruckus. It was some lady cheering on the riders - actually a few people cheering, "You can do it! C'mon, it's not much farther." They were riders themselves, but riding pink bikes with wicker baskets and tassles on the handlebars. Not only did they somehow have the energy to do this incredible ride of a bike that easily weighed twice as much as mine, but they also had enough enthusiasm to cheer the rest of us on.

That's when I realized that I had focused on the wrong things. Training, bikes, and gear are all great stuff - but what keeps you going are the beliefs that you can make a difference, that you are capable of conquering physical challenges, and that you are stronger than you ever thought possible. Those reasons alone are reason enough to give to the charity being supported by that person.

Most of us are normal people. Just like you.

We've all heard the heart-wrenching stories. Someone who rode the AIDS Ride because their friend recently died of AIDS. Someone recently diagnosed with cancer doing the Pan Mass Challenge. A Boston2Portland rider with a close relative with Parkinson's. I think that these people are incredible - because they are taking the hardships of life and motivating themselves to do something about it. They are heroes. They deserve my money and I try to give what I can to them.

In my opinion, the everyday people are just as remarkable. I am least two degrees removed from anyone with cancer, anyone with AIDS, or any one suffering from Parkinson's. Yet, I believe in these causes enough to spend 6 days of my life riding on the AIDS Ride (2001), Boston2Portland (2007), and Pan Mass Challenge (2007) because I hope that I will stay two degrees removed. But it's not about me. There are hundreds, thousands of other people that ride, walk, and run - for what many would think is no reason at all - just because they want to. But that's really the best reason - we just believe that we can make a difference.

So I ask you just think about it before you delete the next email that you get asking to raise money for a charity. Think about what it takes to muster up the guts to ask what some would consider a rude interruption to your day to day activities; Think about how much you have to believe in yourself to run a 1/2 marathon or ride 100 miles in a day; Think about all those people believing in that cause, themselves, and everyone around them.

You'll get more of these emails, I'm sure. It's because more and more people believe that they can make a difference. They all deserve your support.

Michael Oh

My rides:

The Pan-Mass Challenge for the Jimmy Fund:
http://www.pmc.org/egifts/giftinfo.asp?EgiftID=MO0074

Boston2Portland for the Foundation for Neurologic Diseases:
http://www.boston2portland.com/conmain.html

Tech Superpowers founder Michael Oh in the 2001 Boston to NYC Aids Ride