"Be the change you wish to see in the world." -Mahatma Gandhi
Over 1600 feet on a gymnasium floor - tired, aching, sore, but never stopping. 800 hearts beating as one through blood, sweat and tears. 28 hours. 28 hours of exhaustion, pain. discomfort, and a rollercoaster of emotion. Legs shaking as you try to force yourself to stay upright, eyes growing hazier as the clock ticks on. Tears stream down painted faces of kids who for 28 hours were given a mission, a purpose in this world. A full day of school before 28 hours of non-stop dancing. The best night of the year. Our night. SHMD.
The South High Marathon Dance (SHMD) was and still is so much more than just a community service event, or a big dance the whole student body participates in. Staying awake for 28 hours in order to participate in a dance marathon to raise money isn't something just done for fun. This event was a God-given mission. This small town in the middle of upstate New York was blessed forty years ago with the opportunity to change the lives of thousands of people every year. We know what we're doing sounds like madness - 28 hours without rest added on to a full day of school - but this is our virtue. This is our mark on the world, this is our footprint on the moon, this is our God-given purpose, this is our dance.
The amount of money we raise to give to those who need it most is capital we can't even fathom. In 2016 alone it was $762,153.87. A little less than a million dollars that has first touched our hands by means of knocking on stranger's doors in the frigid winter months, shoveling driveways, or putting out a jar at the grocery store exchanging other's hands for that life-changing surgery, that therapy that will increase someone's quality of life, that service dog to calm the hardships. We don't do it for glory, we do it for hope. We do it for the change we wish to bring to this world. We do it for the joy we wish to incite. We have eased some of the pain suffocating this earth. We have made it easier for someone to wake up in the morning. We have made someone smile again.
It's okay to cry. It's okay to see the ones who will benefit the most from what we do and wish we could do more. It's okay to cry because your feet hurt and you can barely stand any longer. This dance has taught us that tears aren't weakness, but strength. Strength that we have used to make it, strength that we have used to keep going, strength that we will use to do it all again.
We have touched the lives of thousands. We have changed what community means. In a world growing increasingly dark, we are the light. We are the glimmer at the end of the tunnel. We are the lighthouse in the distance during a sea storm. We are the shining stars in the darkest night. We are not a generation of entitled millennials, we are the generation of givers. We are hope, we are strength, we are change, we are SHMD.
Go to http://shmd.org/ to donate.
