After a day of reading miserable comments from grown people about kids who are somehow different this video picked me up. With the score 35-0 and 0:10 seconds remaining in the game, the Snohomish Panthers run the Ike Special. Ike rushed for a 51 yard touchdown as time expires. Ike has Down Syndrome. Read more.
BTW, if want to feel terrible again, just read the comments on the YouTube video page.
I talked with Sam R about some of the bullying that happens on YouTube – people just saying the worst things they can think about because they are selfish, mean, and want attention. In the case with Sam, it was a series of videos where homeless people were talking about their situations called Invisible People (http://www.youtube.com/user/invisiblepeopletv).
I used to volunteer for Special Olympics when I was in high school. I didn’t really get it until I saw them compete in a race and could tell that they had the same feeling that I had when I ran races. They’re athletes. Everyone deserves a chance to participate and compete.
I remember back in the early days of the Internet, there was a lot of talk of the Internet creating a global community where civil discourse will become more common, and there will be more understanding among people. My one friend, a psychologist with Pitt at that time, laughed at the notion.
“That,” I remember him saying, “is as naive as a farm boy on his first trip to the big city. In this case, the farm boy is the futurist, and the big city is human nature.”
It amazes me what I read, the venom I see. My nephew creates all sorts of Youtube videos, and I have advised him several times about trolls who attack him (report, report, report).
Some of the stuff online is plain nasty, other comments are just sort of silly. For example, in the peanut allergy/bully story, the people who “never heard of this when they were a kid.” Well, this isn’t something parents invent – it’s a real, documented condition with plenty of evidence.
But, hey, why pay attention to reality when you can create your own.
I will end with two simple words: Go Ike.