pull tabs

I really can't stand misinformation. I think this is because I believe most of the ills of the world have some root in misinformation, even if it is less than direct.

This week someone at work sent an email around asking us to drop the pull tops from any cans of pop we drink in a container he would be submitting for a charity. I, in my infinite knowledge, asked how the tabs would be redeemed because I know that most charities cannot get any use out of pop tabs. It turned out to be a legitimate charity drive, so I ended up feeling a little stupid for asking.

I am sensitive about pull tabs because an experience I had as a kid. When I was in fifth grade my teacher heard about someone with either cancer or leukemia (it was sixteen years ago, so I am fuzzy on the details). If we could collect enough pop tabs they could be turned in to pay for treatments or medical devices or something of that nature. Our class collected several large jars of pop and beer tabs, and for every jar we collected we got to have a pop party.

Near the end of the year we were trying to fill the jar one more time when one kid realized a few minutes before class that he forgot to bring his collection of tabs. He quickly borrowed a classmate's bike and headed home to retrieve it.

After that student hadn't returned for a half hour or so after class started, our teacher told our class that Jeremiah had been hit by a car and she didn't know what his condition was. By the end of the day we learned that he had died. While I really know that the accident was due to things like the fact that this kid was not very cautious on his bike and that there was a blind spot created by shrubs where he was hit, I still know that collecting the pop tabs indirectly caused his death.

Later in life I found out that most pull tab collections are more or less meaningless in helping those who are ill, it reaffirmed my distaste for misinformation. As I said before, I know the connection between the two is indirect, but there was still an impact.