Shane Koyczan was bullied a lot when he was a kid. So he took that pain and made this stunning video with the help of some amazingly talented people. He wrote “To This Day”, a spoken word poem, to further explore the profound and lasting impact that bullying can have on an individual. He believes schools and families are in desperate need of proper tools to confront this problem. We can give them a starting point… A message that will have a far reaching and long lasting effect in confronting bullying.
I’d just like to add one note to Shane’s ending quote to his poem.
“But our lives will only ever continue to be a balance in act that is less to do with pain and more to do with beauty.”
This quote rings so true to the mindset I had when Cars For Hope was born. I’ve always believed that everyone can relate to pain, that all of us live with questions, and all of us get stuck in moments. I was in a lot of pain at the time, my friends were in pain, and strangers were in pain. We’re all human after all. We all wake to the human condition of living with pain. What I found at the time was that I was able to look past the pain and towards the ‘beauty’ as Shane calls it. I knew what mattered the most to me at that time. It was a friend of mine who was going through a tough battle with depression. I wanted her to know she wasn’t alone in the places she felt stuck. I wanted her to know there were people out there who cared about her.
Now I’m not saying go out there and start a non-profit movement. But really sit down and look at the ‘beauty’ inside you, look at your talents and hobbies and really explore them. It’s important to find what out what matters to you. If you love photography, go out there and create some amazing images that speak wonders to the world. If you’ve always wanted to take up ballet, do it, and master the adage and pirouette. If you want to become a professional drifter, pick up as many part-time jobs as possible to help you fund your car then train so hard until your tyres fucking burst. Whatever you do find, I hope you really push the boundaries and enjoy yourself.
Yesterday my best friend Aleks asked what motivates me to continue to push CFH. My answer was; because it matters.
