I double triple dog dare you to don a red nose for a day. I promise it will change your life. And, today, it will change the life of impoverished children. How do I know it can change your life, you ask? Done it! And, got a nose blister to prove it.
If only I’d known 25 years ago that I would become a professional speaker and writer, I would have taken better notes and remembered names easier to accredit quicker. But I don’t have the memory to even remember the 5K, or was it a 10K, ‘cause’ that I ran for 20 years ago in Atlanta Georgia while sporting the only red nose in the race—just for fun.
That event floods my mind today. Why? The first ever ‘Red Nose Day’ is invading us from the UK. Today, May 21st, 2015,Red Nose Day is proclaimed here in the United State, with NBC partnering up for the first and biggest ‘Red Nose Day’ party ever. This 30-year UK tradition is a day to “have fun, raise money and changes lives, for children and young people in poverty around the world.” What a noble cause for the red nose. Apparently I was pre-mature in understanding the power of the red nose. What, you ask?
Inspired by chaos and change to lighten up my workplace environment, I was using playful implements a long time ago as just a little levity and fun to shock and awe and please my clients and colleagues. Often I announced my arrival to business meetings on just about every college campus in the Southeast, with a rubber chicken in my arm pit and wearing a red nose.
I travel across the United States and Canada professing the power of initiating laughter and making people laugh out loud. LOL! I was presenting a session on leaders using the power of humor as a professional tool, at an American Society of Association Executives, (ASAE), Conference in Toronto, Canada. A CEO wearing a red nose sat on the front row. He was the ONLY one of about 150 attendees wearing a red nose. He explained that both he and his former boss, the CEO he had just replaced, carried a dozen red noses with them on planes. They would give them out randomly to passengers boarding the plane. He said this act literally made some LOL and actually brought other recipients to tears. With shock and awe and the surprise of receiving a red nose, grateful enthusiasm often followed with, “THANK YOU! I needed this so much today!” See, told you it changes lives.
My most beloved red nose moment is captured in a picture or ‘pic” as we say now say in Social Media, of me and my Momma on her 75th birthday. Dementia had really begun to take its toll on her precious mind. But she sure did reach for that red nose and was willing to pose for a picture that day. I know it brought her a “titch” of joy and maybe even a memory of a better day. A way to play again, even if just for a moment. She’s been gone four years now and this ‘pic’ still brings a smile to my face and a tear to my heart. Mom changed my life that day with a ‘red nose’ memory-making moment that I get to share with the world.
NBC has taken on this new awareness and tradition of helping impoverished kids, both here and abroad, with party vengeance by supporting and sporting a red nose for a day. I double, triple dog dare you to put one on today, or any day. You will be shocked and amazed at the fun you will have, the lives you will change, particularly yours, and the memories you will make.
On this day, donate, give, and help raise money for such a worthy cause. Red Nose Day will be a game changer for you, I promise. It’s “a good laugh for a good cause.” Check out some of the celebrities that kick start the party tonight at 8:00pm EST on NBC to raise awareness and money with the power of a red nose:
http://www.nbc.com/red-nose-day/video/a-red-nose-first/2859062
https://www.rednoseday.org/the-show
I was so relieved to see that Matt Lower of NBC fame was NOT wearing his red nose on his 226.5 mile ride from Boston back to the New York City, NBC studio to highlight, benefit and kick start Red Nose Day. He would have been sporting a nose blister for sure. How do I know? Done it! Apparently sweat and adjusting a red nose on race day do not mix. TMI? But you don’t have to sweat. You just have to put on a red nose and donate. It’s real red nose magic. It will change your life, I promise.
PS… Another post that may interest you from June Cline: http://junecline.com/?p=1019