To This Day - by Shane Koyzcan

What an inspirational video. I still can't believe the silence that followed in the classroom. On a couple occasions during this spoken-word poem, the author mentions the "Sticks and Stones" riddle. It's very true what they say about the fact that it is completely wrong! It's simply not true that names won't hurt you. In fact, they continue to hurt you long after the bruises would have healed. This explains the title "To This Day" which shows how long that kind of cruelty can last.

The second reference he makes that seems ludicrous now is the statement, "Kids can be cruel". Yes they can, but I maintain that this cruelty is learned. And that saying it doesn't make it ok. What I wonder is where kids learn to be this way.

The expression that comes to mind is the one about fighting a losing battle. I wish it would change, I would love to be a part of the solutiuon, but when I look at all the initiatives of the past, I wonder if it is possible to weed the meanness out of people who don't seem to feel anything for others. I guess, we must simply not lose hope.

What We Sometimes Don't See...

Everyone could relate in their own way to this kind of video. What are the personal themes that you might identify from this one? How can you relate to some of the emotions that are brought out in this video?

Children See, Children Do

When I received this video a couple year ago in an email from my sister, I watched with a lump in my throat. It is exaggerated and harsh, but it gives the viewer a very powerful message.

What do you get out of it? Do you view it as a role model? Are you a good one? How do you know? Do you view it as a child who chooses a role model? Are you choosing the right ones? How do you know?

When my own children make wrong choices, I ask them if their behaviour reflects who they want to become. This is usually enough to make them take a look around and realize that their choices define them.

I'm anxious to hear what you think about this one...

Famous Failures

This video gives us so many examples of the humble beginnings of people we know to be successful. There are lots of kids who say, "What's the point of trying? I'm going to fail anyway." or "Why bother? I'll never make it to the NHL." They may be right, but there are tons of NHL players who would never have made it without trying (and failing a whole lot during the process).

Samuel Beckett once said, "Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." This quote inspires me and reminds me that I am not perfect and in order to get better at anything, I have to be willing to fail and learn from my failures, just as many of the famous people in this video once did.

We often think of our heroes being perfect. Well, the truth of the matter is that they were not born that way. They have had many things to learn along the way and failure is a big part of learning. This also makes me think of the importance of CHALLENGE in my life. If things are too easy, we lose interest. We need them to be a little more difficult than we can handle so that the effort gets us to learn something new and to be better and better at what we are striving to learn.

I am anxious to hear what you have to say about these videos and please feel free to leave your comments in the comment section of my blog as well.