Is an outlandish mockery of the American Cancer Society happening right now?

A truly bizarre thing has happened; it appears people have flipped their noggins and have forgotten this serious battle against Cancer.

Instead of using their time to have a community bake sale or do a car wash, so to contribute to this years American Cancer Societies Relay for life, it looks as if they have decided to waste their time to “only do virtual RFL activities” in the virtual, on-line world of Second Life instead.

Not only are people from across the US playing in this absurd game, but it shockingly seems people from across the globe have decided to join these Second Life absurdities as well. Spanning from Japan, the UK, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands and more all the way over to the United States, thousands of people are logging in each and every day to take part in this global charade.
What they have done is set up Virtual RFL teams, they then proceed to make virtual items and hold virtual events all to raise a virtual currency for the RFL.

How can people from across the globe make such a mockery of our American Cancer Society? What a waste of valuable time playing virtual games instead of getting out there in the real world and utilizing their time for truly productive activities instead?

Or perhaps it is not a waste of time? After all, would the American Cancer Society waste their time to endorse all these virtual activities, if it was?

Perhaps all this absurd nonsense would make sense if one knew that the virtual currency of Second Life is actually equivalent to the value of a small countries currency. That in fact all $L’s, as in Linden Dollars, can be traded thru a number of currency type exchanges for USD, or on that matter to the currency of the country you happen to live in. Perhaps it makes sense after all, since last year this world-wide community of Second Life people managed to raise over 110,000 USD for the American Cancer Society.

Before introducing a wonderful RFL event being hosted in Second Life, and my main reason for writing this piece, I would first like to build a bridge to close the gap between our Second Life and the main stream public.

It seems what seems at first only a game should now be given more consideration.
Conceivably too many people, who have heard of Second Life and thus quickly disregarded it, are making the error of reducing its activities to be the same sort of frivolous nonsense as, hours each week going thru silly e-mails, entering chat rooms, perusing the web or frolicking thru myspace comments.

One could debate, e-mails, chat rooms, web surfing and myspace hold some valid purpose, such as offering us methods to communicate business and to network with people across the globe. On that note, one could debate, that all of these things, from the frivolous or to matters of more importance, are “immeasurably” more personably in Second Life.

I will bring forth the following example that I am pretty sure all of us have in common.

We can all draw upon the empathy we have shared watching a suspenseful or dramatic movie. We have all sat, captivated and sucked into the stories the directors had wished to unleash on us. We have all walked out of a movie theater, or turned off our TV’s, still memorized in the surreal echo of what we just watched. We have reacted with tears, happiness or frustrations all in result of the movie’s visual stimulants, music and voice.

This is exactly why the community of Second Life is powerful. This is why we are growing; this is why we are seen as a dramatically improved platform for the upcoming generation’s web interactions. We are not just following a characters role thru a film, thru some wondrous land and wondrous adventures. We are not just playing a game to get to a new level, frustrated against some computer-generated villain.

We are a global, interacting, growing, massive community who are taking our PC’s out of the ice (cold) age and into truly heart felt interactions.

Second Life has expanded to the point that if I were to try and attempt to cover all it has to offer, I would be more consumed then as if I were trying to describe all of New York, from city to upstate and all it’s nooks and crannies.

So that will bring us back to why I began writing this piece in the first place.

If you have yet to guess, I am a member of the Second Life Community and in addition to that I am a full team member on the RFL team Designers in Seclusion. As a builder/designer in Second Life, who earns a living creating attire and other goods for our SL communities’ daily activities, I have passionately lent my skills to the RFL efforts. Information on how the American Cancer Society and the RFL works in Second Life can be found through this link. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/GI/content/GI_1_8_Second_Life_Relay.asp

The RFL teams within Second Life are comprised of all sorts of different people from all over the world. From professional telecommuters to social butterflies to those physically too hindered to make their way out into their local communities. A wondrous advantage of the Second Life platform is that those who are too ill in their battle against cancer finally have a very real way to contribute to the fight against this awful disease inflicting them. With so much energy in their hearts, yet not in their body, they can make their presences known and have some fun too, thru the fairy tale assortment of activities invented for the RFL in Second Life.

Personally the battle to fight cancer is one I hold close to my heart.

Back in 2003, I had lost an extremely close, dear friend, Marianna Thompson, who was affectionately known to those close to her as Mickey. Mickey was fighting Hodgkin’s Lymphoma for over four years before she finally succumbed to the battle of it and passed on. Her energy, one word; brilliant.

She is dearly missed, and in keeping her memory alive, everything I have contributed to the RFL has been for her names sake. I even have built, passionately and with purpose, a high school, detailed and (as I have been told) amazingly nostalgic. It was decided by our RFL team we would host a Prom for our main RFL event. It was a chance happening, you see, I didn’t know that Mickey never had got to experience her Prom. It wasn’t until I was nearly done building when I told Mickey’s mother, we are having a Prom for our RFL event. She explained, this was something Mickey always wanted, but due to circumstances she had never got to experience it, and in ways she deeply regretted missing hers. I cried on the phone with Mickey’s mom. I had no clue why this build was so important to me, and in my tears I finally knew there was a purpose to what seemed a state of creative madness.

I invite you, and yours, to enter our Second Life, it’s free to explore! Spend a night or two with us at Memory Lane High School, June 14th 3pm and June 15th 5pm.

Come relive the Magic of Prom or realize it all for the first time. Entrance is Free; Donations are encouraged thru RFL certified vendors only. Acts of donations & amounts are private. If you’d like you can outfit yourself with dresses, tuxes, all for a few pennies and yet have a million dollar night.

We impatiently await your arrival In-World.

Posted by CaSimone