Sometimes we find ourselves asleep at the wheel in life. Feeling apathetic, lost, sorry for ourselves and all that negative stuff. Realizing I've been going along that way for a bit too long this is my attempt to do something good each day - but not for myself - for someone else. If you're like me and you spend way too much time in your own head (where you likely get yourself in trouble) - I encourage you to give it a try yourself: pass along a good deed.
A Fasulko family joke and mantra is "Challenge Yourself!" It's a long story and if I tried to relay it here, it probably wouldn't come across as even remotely funny. It's one of those "you had to be there," stories. Suffice it to say we love feats of strength and love even more when one of our family members tries to "challenge themselves" to do something physically, ridiculously stupid just to prove that they are capable of doing it.
That said, when Cleveland Hopkins International Airport's "Plane Pull" challenge popped up on my Facebook feed today, I bit. Big time. See who can pull a Boeing 737 the fastest? Hell yes, you bet your sweet buns that's right up my alley. So I set out to see what the logistics were and assemble an All Star team of friends and family to assist me in challenging myself. And, bonus on the good deed front, this event is a fundraiser for the Speical Olympics.
So here's all the details: each registered team of 20 needs to pull a Boeing 737 across a 12 foot tarmac and whoever does it the fastest gets bragging rights (in addition to pulled muscles and calloused hands). Each team needs to raise a minimum of $750 - all proceeds benefitting the Speical Olympics. The big Plane Pull date is July 9th from 8 a.m. - 1 p.m. and I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE for any and everyone to come on out and join in the fun! If you're interested in being on the team, let me know - spots are filling up fast. Better yet, assemble your own team and we'll go head to head! But I warn you, I'm a fierce competitor and as Team Captain I'm already planning on cheesy get-ups (think mustaches and Randy Savage style ties around our bulging biceps).
Check it out for yourself here. Oh yea, and if you're feeling generous and want to donate to our team fundraising minimum that would be spectacular!
Welp, here's the fact of the matter, it is damn hard to keep on keepin' on with doing something good for others every day when you work from home. It might sound kind of like a crappy cop out, but the lack of human interaction, I mean real, physical human, face-to-face interaction that I have on a daily basis is dismally low. Which ironically, was part of the reason I started this little Goodness Project of mine - to minimize the amount of time I felt feeling sorry for myself and spend some time focused on others.
That said, I think I just need to get more creative. So, I'm back, I'm dedicated and today an issue seemed to keep bonking me over the head. It was like the universe was saying wake up. The issue: the struggles of the LGBT community. As an Oprah lover (for those of you out there who don't care for her, I'm sorry, but I don't want to hear about it) I've been getting a tad more vigilante about keeping up with my "O" finale season. Today, Chas Bono was the guest and man was his story a hell of a one. I struggle with the blues, but I can't imagine feeling like I was literally born in the wrong skin, the wrong gender and being perceived as something/someone I felt completely at odds with. How you keep going when you feel that way I don't know, but I give some big ups to anyone who finds that kind of internal fortitude to stay strong, stand up for who they are at their core and tell the rest of the world to take a hike if they don't like it.
Then, just a few moments ago as I was watching the Boston-Heat game (GO CELTICS!) there was a google chrome commercial that featured the "It Gets Better" project. The "It Gets Better" project was started by a gay man and his partner who created a YouTube video to put a video out there to tell young people in the LGBT community to keep faith and that life "gets better." Since then it's become a worlwide movement with people uploading their videos to inspire others and the web site expanding to include events, a blog, merchandise and a wall where you can pledge your support of the movement and your commitment to spread the message. I guess by now, the way I'm going on about this has become kind of obvious, I joined the movement, took the pledge and yep, this is me spreading the word to y'all: check it out here. And definitely watch the video (it made me cry, yea, yea, I cry at everything these days).
It hurts my heart when I hear the judgmental and callous things so many people (and unfortunately many people close to me) have to say about people who don't agree with them or aren't like them. It's such an awful waste of energy to spend time cutting others down, making fun of others and just generally spewing negativity out in to the universe. I once asked someone, who had made some strong statements about whether the gay community should be allowed to legally marry, if their child came to them as an adult and said "I'm gay," would they want them to be denied that right? Would they want others to say hurtful things about them? Of course, in this scenario, most people with any shred of compassion (and love for their child) take a step back and say "of course I'd want them to have that right and to be treated fairly in the world."
Why is that such a hard principle to live by? To go through life treating other people the way you would want someone special to you to be treated? I say it's not. It just takes practice.
