Friends & Friends & Friends: Support ALS Research!

I am having a blast watching people band together all over social media to share this challenge with her families and friends. I've seen several people who, like me, didn't really understand the full scope of how ALS affects those who have it, their families, caretakers and friends.

It's.. horrible.
I've seen a handful of videos over the past couple of weeks, made by individuals directly affected in some way by this STUPID disease. The 26-year-old guy I showed ya'll yesterday even stated that for him, ALS is something that people either equate with the title of Lou Gehrig's Disease & know very little past that, or they are aware of what it really is, and the conversation after that is slim to none.

What an awful way to have to live.
So yeah, I'm loving the video streams of people having a little harmless fun with the ALS challenge. Call it narcissism, call it vanity, call it dumb.. call it whatever you want: money is being donated and awareness is being raised. Let's not forget why we're making these videos, but let's keep challenging the world to shed light on this. Let's save some lives, yeah??!

Here's a mini compilation of my lovely friends, directly challenging me & challenged by me to participate.

kalyn

 ^ She started it for me... thanks for the nomination, Mom! [& yes, we call each other that for reasons even we don't really know... leave it be... ]

My nominations went flying yesterday, and these are some of the early responses:

Becky is scheduled to this sometime tomorrow at Market.
Jessica already did this from someone else's challenge...  

Chad, who decided he would do this before he even left volleyball:

hahana beach!

From the IL lovelies I called out, all three of them nailed it:

Ali:


my favorite ginger

DeShawn: 

damanji himself

Tim: 

timmy!!

Earlier footage of Marianne, who was previously challenged by someone else. What an awesome idea, btw!

love this.



Allllll right, Becky & Rob - you two are still on the chopping block. Let's see it!

Oh, and guess what - it's the weekend... so...  yeah. Love it.

TGIF!

xo | cmd

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Our volleyball tournament was tonight.
We'll suffice to say this: "Next time. NEXT. TIME." Haha.

Afterwards, I accepted the challenge passed on to me by Kalyn: The viral sweep of ice bucket douses, all in the name of raising awareness and funds for ALS research. The ultimate goal? FIND A CURE.

Amidst the handful of skeptics and those otherwise reluctant to participate for whatever reason, I personally find it endearing to see the newsfeed on my preferred social media outlet -- Facebook -- saturated with video snippets of people dousing themselves or handing that favor off to someone else, in support of a cause. Is it literally every other post just about? Yeah. Does that really bother me that much? NO.

Does it seem a bit narcissistic?
Probably. Sure, we're all posting footage of ourselves doing this, but hey, here's an interesting read I found about this current phenom:

>>> What An ALS Family REALLY Thinks About the Ice Bucket Challenge <<<

This is one of the few times I really want to speak up and tell the naysayers to just... calm down.
This gal says,

"... here’s the deal: We are in for the fight of our lives with this monster, and the very LAST thing I want is for people to give quietly, anonymously, and then slink away. Raise the roof! Raise a ruckus! Call all sorts of attention to yourself! I will be happy for you and every Facebook like you receive, as you nudge ALS an inch or two closer to the collective public consciousness."

Okay. She wins. The ALS-affected win. Douse AND donate, I sure will.

And I did.


In case you can't hear, yeah, I did nominate quite a few people [someone told me the limit was 3? woops] - I guess we'll call it 3 groups of people, as opposed to just 3 individuals:

1 - volleyball team: Becky & Chad [Jessica already did it]
2 - My IL darlings: Ali, DeShawn & Tim [Marianne also already did this]
3 - My better half Rob. Not really a group on the last one... hah.

Anyway, 1, 2 & 3 - you've got 24 hours to accept AND donate. GO!

Oh, and just in case you're still one of those critics who think this too is a fad equitable to that of Gagnam Style or The Harlem Shake, c'mon.. really? Those two things benefited the greater good of mankind .... how, exactly?

>>> Here's ALS, in REAL TIME. <<<

 

Yeah. I'm on board, 100%. If we as a collective group of humans can find a cure for this, I'd say our efforts now, regardless of how funny we and our friends think the videos to be, are worth it.

 

Happy Wednesday!

 

xo | cmd