Being of service, giving donations, volunteering, and other acts of charity are all incredibly valuable to the community. Something as simple as donating a pair of shoes instead of tossing them in the garbage is meaningful. These little actions not only help us feel good, but they also support organizations invested in aiding less fortunate people.
A TikTok influencer, Moe, decided to make a little social experiment by placing an AirTag into a pair of sneakers before donating them to the German Red Cross. Using Apple's Find My application, he followed the journey of his donated shoes. The final destination had us all asking, where do our charitable donations really go?
Hand holds an Apple AirTagKKPCW/ Wikimedia Commons
German influencer Moe follows the journey of his AirTag donation and posts a video of it on TikTok.
Moe placed his tracking device inside one of the shoes under the foot cushion. He deposited his AirTag-tracked sneakers in a German Red Cross donation container. Monitoring the shoes through the Apple Find My application, he watched them move about Europe.
Over the course of five days, AirTag's real-time location gave him updates revealing the entire pilgrimage. Starting in Munich, Germany, the shoes traveled through Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia until reaching a destination in Cazin, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
New Square in Cazin, Bosnia and HerzegovinaHasan Zulic/ Wikimedia Commons
Moe decides to follow the shoes to Bosnia.
With some sleuthing, Moe uncovered that his shoes were for sale at a local market for 10 euros. A journey that began in Munich, Germany, spanned nearly 500 miles before reaching a final destination in Bosnia. Camera in hand, Moe documented his own path to the vendor, where he repurchased the shoes.
Speaking with the store clerk, he found that her boss had purchased the shoes in Germany. Her boss then brought the shoes back to Bosnia, where he lives. How do shoes donated for the Red Cross come all the way to a country nearly 500 miles away?
You can watch the TikTok video by Moe below:
How donations to the German Red Cross work
After some public backlash following Moe's TikTok video, the German Red Cross gave a response addressing those concerns. Depending on the quality, seasonal relevance, and local demands, donations are utilized with different procedures. Some items go to local individuals and families in need. Some items are sold through charity shops, which help generate funds. And, other items are sent to international markets where greater demand can exist.
A 2025 article in SoydeMac explained the German Red Cross donation procedure. Receiving between 70,000 and 80,000 tons of clothing each year, the breakdown for the donations is as follows:
- 50% of the clothing is simply recycled because the condition is too poor for anything else
- 40% is sold to second-hand stores, with funds going to local projects
- 10% of donations go directly to people in need of clothing
Charitable donations.Photo credit Canva (AndreyPopov)
Why are some charities more effective than others?
One of the most important things to understand about any given charity is what it represents or the emotional impact it offers, which can be very different from the benefits it provides. A 2023 study in Cambridge University Press found people often pick charities based on the emotional appeal or their own familiarity with the subject. Many donors believe these charities only differ a little in how much good they do, however, the fact is that the difference can be huge.
A 2023 study in Oxford Academic pointed to intermediary costs as a primary issue. What's donated that actually reaches the final beneficiaries is often determined by overhead, logistics, resale, and other fees. A 2023 study in the National Library of Medicine found an exceptionally productive method of donating involved bundling. Donors could offer resources or funds toward a favorite charity that was then shared also with a more effective charity. This helps shift donations more toward high-impact giving.
As one social media influencer found out, just because you feel good about the charitable action you're taking, it doesn't mean the actual effectiveness will be what you most hope it to be. There are organizations designed specifically to help you get the most bang for your buck when it comes to donations. Nonprofit companies like Charity Navigator and Charity Watch are available to help maximize the effectiveness of every dollar contributed to charity. They provide donors with evaluated information about financial efficiency, governance, transparency, and accountability. That way, you can have an informed decision, see potential red flags, focus on the effectiveness of an organization, and understand that all charities are not equal.
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You may have missed the actual meaning behind these 5 popular songs.
'Every breath you ...' what? 5 classic songs where people totally missed the meaning
I’ve never been a "lyrics guy"—as long as the words sound pleasing to the ear, are relatively interesting, and aren’t evil or distractingly dumb, I don’t care all that much what the singer is going on about. I’m focused on the dynamics, the color of the arrangements, the rhythms, and harmonies. It’s only natural that I’d misinterpret some songs over the years, including ones that I’ve heard a thousand times while walking around malls and supermarkets.
I know I’m not alone. And I’d argue there are plenty of factors behind this phenomenon: Some people take lyrics too literally, while others only focus on hooky choruses and fail to notice nuance in the verses. Context can also blind us—if the music is danceable and upbeat, you might fail to catch darker elements in the words. Still, it can be hilarious and/or shocking when hugely popular tunes are misinterpreted on a mass scale.
Speaking of which: Let’s consult a viral Reddit thread titled "Any songs that are (or were) misunderstood by the public?" There's a mountain of suggestions—everything from '90s Latin-pop hits to '80s heartland-rock epics. But five of them felt especially perfect, so let’s dig a little deeper below.
- YouTube www.youtube.com
The Police - "Every Breath You Take" (1983)
As someone argues in the comments, "Pointing out the real meaning behind 'Every Breath You Take' has to have become so commonplace that it can't really be misunderstood anymore." Point taken. But still…this eerie Police track continues to be used in pop culture and everyday life as a signifier of romance—appearing as the soundtrack to TV slow dances and being arranged for weddings by string quartets. It’s easy to assume, at first glance anyway, that the song's protagonist is pledging their devotion—sticking around for "every breath" their partner takes. Instead, the atmosphere is more disturbing, given the whole "I’ll be watching you" thing. "I didn't realize at the time [I wrote it] how sinister it is," Sting told The Independent in 1993. "I think I was thinking of Big Brother, surveillance, and control."
- YouTube www.youtube.com
Bruce Springsteen - "Born in the U.S.A." (1984)
"Born in the U.S.A." is one of Bruce Springsteen's signature songs—but also likely his most misinterpreted. As an official explainer video notes, the words "center around America's industrial decline and loss of innocence during the Vietnam War"—a message that became somewhat diluted as politicians began using the stadium-sized track for their campaigns. "Conservative commenters praised the song, and it earned the approval of both candidates in the 1984 presidential election," the clip's narrator adds. "Despite being adopted as a patriotic anthem, 'Born in the U.S.A.' is far from nationalistic." In a deep-dive piece, NPR quotes Springsteen talking about the song on stage: "'After it came out, I read all over the place that nobody knew what it was about,' he said before performing 'Born in the U.S.A' to a crowd in 1995. 'I'm sure that everybody here tonight understood it."
- YouTube www.youtube.com
Los Del Rio - "Macarena" (Bayside Boys remix) (1995)
Most Americans probably know the bubbly Bayside Boys remix of Los Del Rio's Spanish-language hit—it became the marquee moment of many a mid-'90s wedding reception and middle-school dance, thanks to its once-ubiquitous choreography. Maybe it's because people were too distracted by remembering the dance moves, but lots of us didn’t notice the lyrics. Of course, the chorus is in Spanish, which could have been a barrier for some, but the remix features English lines like the following: "Now don't you worry about my boyfriend / The boy whose name is Vitorino / Ha! I don't want him, can't stand him / He was no good so I, ha ha ha / Now come on, what was I supposed to do? / He was out of town, and his two friends were so fine."
"My little teenage mind was blown when I learned 'Macarena' was about cheating on a boyfriend with his friends," one Redditor wrote. "[Thank you] for the correction, it was 2 friends! Was sleep deprived writing this. I just did the moves, never questioned the lyrics." Yeah, gotta admit—this legitimately never crossed my mind either. Same with some of the people who took part in a reaction video for Distracify: "It’s definitely about dancing," one person said, before learning the truth. Another added, "I have no idea what it’s about still to this day. Please tell me it’s not something really dark."
- YouTube www.youtube.com
Baha Men - "Who Let the Dogs Out" (2000)
The party was nice. The party was pumpin'.' Until, that is, some "flea-infested mongrels" got involved. Back in 2000, you couldn't escape Baha Men's booming cover of "Who Let the Dogs Out"—it became a staple of sporting events everywhere, a kind of bookend for the Jock Jams era. "I know I definitely misunderstood 'Who Let the Dogs Out' to be about actual dogs," one Redditor wrote, likely speaking for most of the listening public. There's probably a good chance most of those people chanting the chorus weren't thinking about the song's real meaning, crafted by Trinidadian artist Anslem Douglas for his 1998 original. But if you pay attention to the lyrics, "Who Let the Dogs Out" has a feminist theme, telling the story of women who stand up against crass catcalling. "This is going to be a revenge song where a woman tells men, 'Get away from me—you're a dog,'" Douglas told Vice in a 2021 video history of the track. "[Offensive] slang was everywhere. It was just degrading women and calling them all sorts of derogatory names. I tried to do a social commentary as a party song, but the party song overshadowed the social commentary aspect of it."
- YouTube www.youtube.com
Hozier - "Take Me to Church" (2013)
One section of the Reddit thread is devoted to songs interpreted as pro-religion, when the truth is... well, more complicated. "'Take Me to Church' by Hozier is often used by Churches for things, and I’m like 'Oh, that’s not…,'" wrote one user. The bluesy, slow-burning ballad may use religious imagery. Still, it's about something more human—"[It's] this idea that powerful organizations use people’s sexuality in order to mobilize people against women, against gay people," the Irish songwriter told Genius in 2023. "And the justification behind that is often religious in nature." Hozier even isolated one particular lyric that highlights this misconception: "'She tells me, ‘Worship in the bedroom' [is] something tongue-and-cheek, a bit of humor to it, also revealing that this is not necessarily a traditional worship song," he said. "I think I still see my name put into playlists for Christian music, and I’m not averse to that—I don’t think the two are necessarily mutually exclusive. But that line I would’ve thought would’ve disqualified it from something like that."