Million Deeds Challenge

Hey folks!

After some digression in my recent blog entries, I'd today like to talk about a - in my book - very cool initiative to promote the Games in Singapore and thus the YOG as a whole. It is called Million Deeds Challenge and can be described as a virtual torch run to bring the Olympic Flame from Olympia in Greece all the way to Singapore - a distance of 9,236 km as Google maps just told me. So if you are currently sitting in Olympia, you might as well get started now.

As the name indicates, the Million Deeds Challenge seeks to collect one million deeds of Friendship, Excellence and Respect from people from all over the world. Every single deed brings the Olympic Flame a little closer to its final destination in Singapore. The idea for this program came from a group of students of the Holy Innocents High School - another example that you don't have to have your PhD to have great and visionary ideas!

Participating in the Million Deeds Challenge is dead easy. You just need an account (which will be valid for the whole Why Oh Gee universe!), a good deed (well, maybe that's the tricky part) and you are good to go. And the best thing: You don't need to set a new 100m world record or save your grandmother from a burning house (although I was told those are accepted as well). It's, as always in life, the little things that count: Giving a smile and saying thank you, give somebody your seat on the bus or getting an A on an exam (ok, that's not that easy after all). The only 'catch' there is: You are not allowed to post the same deed twice or more.

At the moment, a total of 53,000 deeds have been posted, so we'll need another 947,000 to get the Flame to Singapore in time. Right now, it's stuck somewhere between Iceland and Great Britain, waiting to continue its journey to the rest of the world. So please people: It's easy, it's fun and it's most definitely a good cause, so just join in and post your deeds on the Million Deeds Challenge's website. I'll set a good example and will from now on post one good deed a day (Being a former boy scout, this should be a piece of cake!). Ok, now I am off to do the dishes...I need some material to get me started after all.