Greetings friends, I am Dreyfus Xano.
So, I have not added anything to this blog for some time due to other priorities but I feel like there is a lot on my mind and I want to be able to share my thoughts in a clear and tactful manner
The first thing that I want to talk about is something referred to as the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. As of this writing, it is one of the newest viral things going on From my understanding, ALS is also referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease. In short, a neurological disease that affects both the mind and the muscles of the body.
The way that I understand the challenge is like this, and please PLEASE correct me if I am wrong here:
1. With a recording device, state who you are and that you have accepted the challenge from a friend or colleague, specifically stating that you are going to be dumping ice water on yourself.
2. Challenge at least three other people to do the same thing in 24 hours,(I have seen a few instances of people either giving 48 hours or no time limit at all.) and if it is not done in that time you should donate $100 to the ALS charity.
3. Pour said bucket of ice water on your head with humorous results.
4. Upload video for all to see.
I have seen a lot of standard videos and a lot of creative ones, from the everyday person to even celebrities. I even saw one video of a lady pulling pieces of paper out of a metal pot saying she would rather donate $100 then be doused and I thought that was very interesting. I must admit that this was a really clever and creative idea from this charity. For the record here, I in no way am trying to belittle the efforts of this movement.
So, late last Sunday evening, one of my friends challenged me to do this. Honestly, I was sort of hoping that no one would challenge me to do this but I guess this is not the case anymore. I have to say, I honestly have no desire to dump a bucket of ice water on my head, even if it is for a good cause. The way that I see it, due to the rules, I now have to donate to ALS.
Maybe I am over thinking this a little bit, perhaps my use of "have to donate" should be "should donate". But the thing that resonated in my mind the loudest when I was challenged was " I now have to donate" because again I really have no desire to douse myself in ice water. Almost immediately the thought came to my mind of how I could incorporate this into my Youtube channel, but...again ice water...a few ideas came to me but because of other projects I was working on this did not feel like a high priority to me.
Have you ever heard of The Game? The game that if you even think about it, you have just lost it. The game that you are apparently playing if you know about and cannot choose to not play. For many of you, this will just be a..."huh, ok." moment while there will be plenty who will get upset at my mere mention of this. I feel it necessary to link this back to ALS and I will do so momentarily.
Last year I started a job in Tech Support, during my training two friends I made were obsessed with the Game. This would go on through the three week training process, even involving me a few times. I eventually said this was a stupid concept and that I don't play this game, to which I was countered with "Everyone plays the game" or "You can't not play the game", going back to those so called established rules. I feel like this concept just serves to be an annoyance if anything. I eventually decided that I was going to intentionally not mention the Game anytime I saw either of them at work. For what its worth, I do apologize if my simple mentioning of The Game just upset you. I could definitely go into another posting on just this alone.
Now what does this have to do with my experience with my challenge last Sunday? I feel like if I do not douse myself in ice water and prove it, I HAVE to donate, no ifs ands or buts about it. Under the established rules, I technically had to donate by that Monday evening, maaaaybe Tuesday evening. If I am going to play a card game or a board game, I follow those rules to enjoy the game properly, I do agree to those rules before playing. I feel like I started playing this ALS "game" and I never agreed to play it in the first place. I almost feel like I am doing myself a disservice if I do not go through with the challenge, because when it comes time for me to want to do something similar, will people not listen to me because I didn't donate or douse myself in ice water. What do you think? Leave me some comments below.
Understand here, that I am not trying to belittle the efforts of this ALS charity. I think that they have done something really great with this challenge. I personally enjoy a challenge, something that either teaches me or challenges me mentally. I don't even mind a physical challenge from time to time. I am even reminded of those few comments I have seen either with this or for any time I have raised awareness for Autism myself in my journies in Azeroth, how does dumping a bucket of ice water on your head or forming a giant colored ribbon help this cause? This has really resonated in my mind because, for me, I want to raise awareness for Autism and I am definitely sure that there are plenty of other people with causes of their own that they want to raise awareness for. I want to raise this awareness that in a way that gets people talking like this Ice Bucket Challenge via the ALS. I think this ALS charity did things right by telling people about this disease while offering the challenge itself, this has even inspired me to want to do something in the same vein but not just outright copy dousing myself in ice water.
My first venture into spreading awareness for Autism went pretty well when I gathered a lot of people inside the world of Azeroth, the World of Warcraft and collected red blue and yellow robes and had them form a giant multicolored ribbon. I feel like this reached a lot of people. I attempted this again the next April but I was not able to recreate it in the same manner due to other reasons. I realize I have a lot to learn in order to do what the ALS did and this, if anything, was a nice springboard into something just as great.
So, it seems that my own social media feeds are starting to see fewer and fewer of these videos. In its place, I have seen a handful of people now starting to create videos inspired by the ALS, I want to extend that challenge to you reading this. If you have a cause that you are passionate about, let your creativity abound. Let this example of ALS inspire you for your own cause, because you know what it definitely has for me.
I am Dreyfus Xano.
