First off, really lucky that my friend Vinay challenged me today, of all days. The weather was particularly hot and humid, at least in the Chicagoland area, and after a long day, the water felt a tad--just a tad--on the refreshing side. To make sure I did it right, I filled that bucket up with the ice-cold filtered water that comes from our fridge. I also let a whole mess of ice cubes sit in the bucket for a while (I figured Id let them melt a bit, so I wasnt pelted by them). I happened to nominate four people to take the challenge: Fred Hill, Steve Emling, Basim Shamsuddin (Safoora Baig, Im tagging you, because I know BB--like me--isnt one to check Facebook often), and Talha Farooqi. The reason I called you guys out is because I know quite a few other friends of mine were challenged already, and I figured, why make them do it twice? If you have already done it, sorry!! You do have 24 hours from this post to do it, though! I clipped the video I recorded because I thought what I was saying would be better if simply read. My ability to type on the fly is definitely a lot better than my ability to speak on the fly; go figure. Not to mention, I wouldnt have to put anyone clicking on this through more time spent watching me use my number one public speaking crutch: uh. What I basically said on video is that Im not a diligent user of social media. Its too much for me sometimes, and theres plenty about it that isnt really my style, but I cant deny all the awesome ways that a lot of issues have been able to come to light because of social media. In the past few weeks, Ive heard varying opinions on the Ice Bucket Challenge. Surprisingly (I shouldnt be that surprised, I guess), a lot of it was negative. I could address a whole mess of things Ive heard said about the Ice Bucket Challenge, but...whats the point? People are going to have their views. I just want to say one thing...Im not one to be preachy...I hate it, but...I just want to say to anyone whos ragging on it, whats the harm in it, honestly? Im not posing this question to debate, really; to each their own. But I gotta say, if I wasnt constantly seeing this on SportsCenter over the last month or so, I wouldnt have Googled it to look up what this was for. Ive heard of Lou Gehrigs Disease, sure, but never thought to look up what it was exactly. It doesnt seem to run in my family, so I guess I didnt find the urgency. In fact, before this challenge, I didnt know ALS was more commonly referred to as Lou Gehrigs Disease. To me, they couldve been two different things, and Id be none the wiser. Id never heard the term ALS before, and thats a small part of why the age in which we live in always seems to astound me by educating me pretty damn quick, if I so choose. Is the Challenge gimmicky? Yeah, hell yeah, but look what the end game was: raising awareness as well as insanely increasing the amount of donations for a terminal, debilitating illness. No one is forgetting about everything else thats going on in the world, were aware of it all. But Im speaking as a person who reads or hears about everything that goes on today and thinks: Theres so much going on...what the hell can I do? So isnt it a tiny bit comforting that donating whatever you can, and getting a laugh out of your loved ones for committing an act of jackassery (its a word, damnit) could do something? If not now, in the future, perhaps... als-ny.org/ to learn a bit more, do (or not do) the challenge, and donate (if you can). Alright. There it is. Challenge complete. Also thanks to my pops for recording...no thanks to him for laughing, though.
Posted on: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 02:58:03 +0000
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