If you're crazy and you know it, please clap your hands! (clap, clap). On January 28, 2012 around noonish, I participated in the 2012 Polar Bear Plunge out at Shawnee Mission Park/Lake in Shawnee Mission, Kansas. This was my first time ever doing it. I owe a big thanks to my friend Steve Hugunin who has done this the last 6 years. He is a great guy who loves to help others and especially these special causes such as the Special Olympics. The event raised money for that organization.
The Good, The Bad…it's cold!
It was a cold windy day of about 37 degrees. The water was similar in temperature. The coldest part really was just waiting that 1.5 hours until we got our turn to go into the water. When we did get our turn… I felt no need to go all the way out to high five the fireman who volunteered their time to help keep this a safe event. I think they got plenty of props from the almost 2,000 participants. It felt like forever when I got to a stopping point and turned around to come out of the water. It was like that slow mo feeling you see on films! I will diffidently be doing this again next year! Hopefully we can get a group together to do this! Below is a video of all the shenanigans!
What I Took Away
My feelings on the event are that in life you don't always start out with the type of cards you would like if this was a hand of poker. Children and adults with special needs are just like you and me. They want to be loved, they want to be taken care of, and they want to feel apart of what is going on around them. Having two sons with a rare disease also helps me remember these things.
As I walked away from this yesterday, I felt good that this was a for a note worthy cause. Sometimes in life the best way to get over your own problems is to help others. I try real hard to remember those feelings when we are working on awareness for Niemann-Pick Type C disease with our non-profit Niemann-Pick Children's Fund. I also realized that people are a million times more familier with issues that the Special Olympics encompasses in our society. With a rare disease like what my boys have, it is difficult to get the participation like what we saw Saturday. Either way though, we are doing something to help fight it all! Motion creates emotion!
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Dynamic, high-energy executive with history of performance-oriented leadership to e-commerce sales and marketing within the online marketing and advertising industry. MichaelStults.com is where I share my thoughts on different marketing methods, wordpress, leadership, and various topics that I feel inspired to write about. Please take time to learn more about Rare Disease at www.BriParDun.com