Dare You to Move

The Polar Plunge and the Ice-Water Challenge were hard to miss if you’re on any form of social media.  Even celebrities participated and aired their water torture on television.  So when one of my son’s friends challenged Trey to do the Polar Plunge, Trey was more than happy to participate.  However, when one of the friends that Trey challenged then challenged me, I was not so quick to oblige. 

It’s true that I’m scared of what’s in the Clinch River; the water is murky and the bed is slimy.  Plus I’ve always had the fear of something coming up from below, unseen, and “getting” me.  It’s irrational, like my fear of flying, but it’s a fear I cannot control nonetheless.

Beyond this fear, however, I couldn’t help but wonder how submerging myself in cold water and posting it on social media would really DO anything.  So I decided not to do it.  I decided to donate to the charity of my choice instead.  I went down to the river, with my son videoing, and made my announcement to post on social media. 

The response I got stunned me—not from those on social media, but from my 8 year old son:  “You took the easy way out!” 

He was disappointed in me!  I had bucked the trend, I had opted to DO something, and he was disappointed in me! 

I felt like I had been sucker-punched.  I’m supposed to be his role model, and I had let him down.  But it wasn’t because I didn’t do the Polar Plunge.  It was because he didn’t get it, that he thought me getting into the icy water took more courage and effort than doing something good, something tangible for someone else.   I had failed in instilling the value of charity in my own child.

I had to DO something:  that afternoon, Trey and I went shopping.  As I filled the cart with toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, T-shirts, all items the Crisis Center for Women in Lenoir City, TN needs, he asked, “Why do they need all this?” 

It’s hard to admit to your child that there are such things as monsters, except they don’t lurk in our closets and under our beds—that the real monsters are in our everyday reality and, for some, in their everyday lives.  But if I wanted him to feel compassion for those who are sick, hurt, hopeless, in need, or in danger, he had to know of their existence. 

I can’t say that what we did that one day was a life-altering experience for Trey.  But it was for me.  In acknowledging the monsters, I must also shine the light on all the angels that are out there as well.  I need to be the role model I want my children to one day be.  I will DO more. 

I Dare You to Move…and DO.