Excuse me…double dog dare? Really? I don’t think so. Sounds like a dare a cat would make. (Pictures by Marylin Warner)
JUNE: the Ancient Romans named this month after the goddess Juno, the patron of marriage—think “June bride”—and June also comes from the Latin word “juvenio” (referring to young people). Juvenile is an excellent way to see the special day of June 1st: DARE DAY. Not D.A.R.E., the Drug Abuse Resistance Education for students, and also not the first Saturday in June when Dare County, England celebrates its Dare Day.
June 1st DARE DAY is for daring someone to do something risky. The dare can be heightened by the “double dog dare,” and the highest degree of challenge is the “triple dog dare.” Whatever that means. The specific rules and consequences are up for grabs, embellished for effect, but often the outcome is dangerous or out-of-character behavior. Which is a good reason why the goddess Juno was also responsible for looking after the well being of women and girls…who might be “dared” to do things they don’t want to do.
When I was growing up, one of the things that got my mother quickly involved was to hear children “dare” another child to do something. Mom equated dares with the acts of bullies and cowards who prodded others to do something against their best interests. I remember one day when she overrode a double dog dare by sending me to my room to sort out WHY I had thought making such a challenge was a helpful thing to do to anyone.
At its personal best, DARE DAY on June 1st can be a day to challenge yourself to take a risk, meet a goal, or make yourself do something you’ve been meaning to do but keep putting off.
Michael Jackson wrote this about taking dares: “In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. In a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. And in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe.”
On June 1st, if we have no personal challenges or dares to give ourselves, we can choose one from Jackson’s list above. Or we can send ourselves to our rooms to think quietly until we create our own personal and positive dare.
Who would dare a kid to try to push over a huge boulder in Colorado’s Garden of the Gods?
What if someone triple dog dared you to pierce your eyebrow?
Things I Want To Tell My Mother 