Awesomeness Day founder Kevin Lawver showing off his first official feat of awesomeness (his blue hair). Credit: Kevin Lawver, Flickr
An awful lot of weak and uninspired events are parading around these days, trying to convince Joe and Jane Six-pack that they're legitimate international holidays (International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day?!) -- and The International Day of Awesomeness is by no means one of them.
This annual celebration of awesomeness -- that just so happens to fall on Chuck Norris' birthday (March 10th) -- is the real deal, people. So become an early adopter and get in on the ground floor of this up-and-coming holiday. Your grandchildren will thank you for it.
What is International Awesomeness Day, you ask? According to its founder, Kevin Lawver (Chuck Norris was merely an inspiration), it's a day in which we recognize the "feats of awesomeness" that go on around us everyday unrecognized. Thus, TIDOA is an effort to encourage, promote and inspire ordinary folks to be awesome by whichever means they choose.
As it is with any fledgling holiday, TIDOA is a somewhat free-form celebration with few official rituals or activities, except for what are known as the "Feats of Awesomeness." Quite straightforwardly, these consist of acts that are viewed by the League of Awesomeness as bold, enviable, and, most importantly, super fun (although League approval is by no means necessary).
How did this amazing holiday come about? And why didn't it happen sooner? Nobody knows why Awesomeness Day waited until 2007 to reveal itself -- surely it wasn't a lack of international awesomeness -- but as for how it came about, I did get a chance to ask the founder, Kevin Lawver.
"At work, on August 6th, 2007, one of our interns (Freddie Maneiro) suggested that we have a celebration of my awesomeness (it's been a running joke on this project). This cracked me up, and I said there should be a International Day of Awesomeness, and said that I'd post it to twitter, which I did. That started a very funny, very un-serious conversation among my friends about just what this holiday would entail. And well, here we are."
As you can see, Awesomeness Day came from humble beginnings, which in my opinion is symbolic because it shows that past or present awesomeness has little or nothing to do with future awesomeness -- there's an infinite quantity of the stuff and anyone, anyone can become awesome ... if just for a day.
When asked about his own personal feats of awesomeness, Kevin replied that in the holiday's first year "I did something I've always wanted to do but never had the guts - I dyed my hair bright blue." In 2008, many of his former co-workers got laid off on March 9th (as if it was an omen), so "on 3/10, I wrote LinkedIn recommendations for all of my former co-workers who'd been laid off."
What's the best feat of awesomeness (related to TIDOA) Kevin has heard of to date? Says Kevin, "The CEO of Eventful's name was actually Chuck Norris, so they had "Lunch With Chuck Norris" and a ton of people showed up." Haha, that is awesome ... but kinda cruel at the same time.
Here's to hoping that Awesomeness Day becomes one of March's most successful holidays. It definitely promises to be more action-packed than sitting in the dark for an hour ... unless, of course, you spend that hour meditating on how to be more like Chuck Norris.
