Response from My HR Department

In case anyone is wondering, the HR SVP did respond to my letter about the ADA walk.  I will not post it here, because I did not ask his permission.  (Can you imagine asking an SVP, “Is it OK if I post your e-mail to my blog so I can critique it?”  I have a fair amount of courage, but I also need to keep my job.)  Instead, I will summarize.  He was very cordial, admitted that his interest in diabetes began when he noticed just how many our of our company’s medical claims are diabetes-related, and felt that the company should do something.  He also conceded that it was clear I’d done quite a bit of research into the subject.  As for the Step Out to Fight Diabetes walk, his main goals were to encourage employees to be more active and fit, and to raise awareness of the disease.

I don’t take issue with encouraging people to be more active and fit, though signing people up for a single 4-mile walk seems more like a token gesture than a serious response.  But the notion of raising awareness rankles.  Aside from the fact that an overweight person can scarcely turn around without someone telling them that they are prime candidates for diabetes (which suggests that “awareness” isn’t the problem), ”raising awareness” is useless unless what you are raising awareness of is the truth.

I wrote back:

Thank you for taking the time for such a thoughtful reply,  I certainly won’t badger you any further, and please know that in lieu of the $100 that [name of company] would contribute to the ADA if I joined the walk, I will contribute $100 to another charity of my choice.  My parting questions to you (which I hope you’ll answer for yourself, if not for me) would be, What are you raising awareness of – diabetes per se? or effective strategies for prevention and treatment?  And, is [name of company] throwing good money after bad supporting an organization that promotes the unhealthiest possible diet for diabetics?

The mind boggles.  Aren’t college freshmen required to take courses in logic any more?  The ADA states that diabetics should eat food that exacerbates their diabetes because it’s the healthiest thing for them, and in the face of skyrocketing diabetes-related medical claims costs, my company actually believes that raising awareness of an organization that refuses to advocate for the people it claims to serve is a worthy goal.  It’s like I’ve gone through the looking glass, and somebody has rewritten all the logic books.