So, let’s talk about postponed resolutions. You know, like the one where I said I was going to get back to making blog posts here, almost three years ago.
And the one where I said – a LONG time ago – that I was going to put together an RPG program for the kids at the children’s hospital. I can recall a social network site called 43 Things – back when those things were popping up left and right – that encouraged users to list things that they’d really like to accomplish, and sent you regularly timed reminders asking you how they were coming along. I think I even managed to check off some of mine. But one of them – “Run roleplaying games for children in hospitals” was NOT one of them.
And then, just a few days ago, this video came along.
And I said “Damn.”
A lot has changed in the years since I blogged here regularly, and since I started doing work in RPG advocacy. D&D has become more than accepted, it has become downright ubiquitous. It’s everywhere. And it has finally received the credit it always deserved as a fantastic hobby for building teamwork, problem solving, a love of learning and exploration, and so much more. As I recently said on my RPG advocacy site theescapist.com –
These days, when the media covers a D&D group at a school or library, it’s to extol the benefits of socialization, problem solving, teamwork, and leadership skills that the hobby provides – and very often there are stories about gaming groups hosting fundraisers and doing other acts of good in their community. The handwringing, pearl-clutching satanic panic is gone. RPG defense simply isn’t needed anymore, and the hobby has become a part of popular culture that is receiving the appreciation that it deserves.
We won. Yeah, I said it.
We’re now in a time where this sort of thing will be truly seen for the benefits it will provide, not only for the social skills, basic math skills, and problem solving skills – but for the escape. A child trapped in a hospital needs that escape more than anything.
So, I’m doing it. I’ve got the volunteer form for our local children’s hospital loaded up in my browser right now, and I’m going to finish filling it out after I’m done with this post. And I’m planning to blog my efforts and experiences as I embark on this new journey – the things that go well, the things I should have done differently, and the obstacles that I encounter.
Because that might help someone else who may want to take the same journey. Like, perhaps… you?
The Contemporary Quixotist 
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