Do you realize what your words can do?
by Jonathan Fields | 05/20/08
I found this on Michel Fortin’s blog over the weekend and was blown-away.
No need for explanation, just watch it, then pass it on…
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31 comments
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May 20th, 2008 | 9:13 am
Good grief, Jonathan. You are killing me here.
Retweet on the way.
May 20th, 2008 | 11:02 am
[...] Go to the author’s original blog: Do you realize what your words can do? [...]
May 20th, 2008 | 11:43 am
[...] on by Jonathan Field Watching this made me cry I do we learn to be so [...]
May 20th, 2008 | 11:54 am
It brought tears to my eyes.
Thank you for sharing.
May 20th, 2008 | 11:59 am
[...] video I found at Jonathan Fields, Awake@theWheel. I literally just posted “keep Your Tits Real” when I saw this on [...]
May 20th, 2008 | 12:02 pm
I just CAN’T BELIEVE you posted this. I literally just finished “Keep Your Tits Real” when I popped over to see what you had written.
I just had to repost this video.
May 20th, 2008 | 12:10 pm
I did an exercise just like that in college, with a group of 20 or so people (all different backgrounds, races, colors, you name it)… we were never the same after that.
After that, there were no boundary lines, no distance. No taboos. Nothing to keep us separate. We all became amazingly close, and forged bonds that ran very, very deep.
I’ve lost touch with them over the years, but I think of them often (seriously; I’m not just saying that…). It’s an amazing exercise.
May 20th, 2008 | 12:53 pm
This is great! Schools across America should show this.
May 20th, 2008 | 1:28 pm
@ Megan - that’s my sole purpose, killing ya with kindness!
@ LisaN - my pleasure, glad you enjoyed it!
@ Hayden - Hey, it’s the perfect segue from your prior post!
@ Adam - Thanks for sharing your story, I never went through anything similar, but just watching these kids do it was pretty powerful for me
@ Kristen - totally agree, I am going to see if I can find out more about the program
May 20th, 2008 | 2:08 pm
@Kristen I’m not sure if showing it is enough. Kids are very cynical and unless they’re able to experience it themselves, I don’t think it would have the same impact.
Oh, it might create a short lived buzz, but IMHO, only via the actual experience would minds be changed.
May 20th, 2008 | 4:46 pm
Definitely powerful stuff!
May 20th, 2008 | 11:35 pm
Holy shit, dude. I’m trying to WORK here.
May 21st, 2008 | 8:38 am
[...] Today, I’ll be walking a different path, and am sharing this moving video I discovered over at Jonathan’s blog, Awake At The Wheel. [...]
May 21st, 2008 | 1:08 pm
Wow, what an amazing video!! I was brought to tears. I hope all High Schools start exercises just like this one.
Thanks for sharing it with us, Jonathan.
May 21st, 2008 | 9:55 pm
So wonderful! It is has often been in my weakness, vulnerability, and genuine need for help when I inadvertently found the ability to open and accept the hand, the hugs, and the soothing most real presence of another human being. That openness is unsurpassed.
Thank you so much Johnathan for passing this along! I sure did need to see this video.
Deep Bow..
z
May 22nd, 2008 | 2:45 am
I dread to think what would happen if someone tried this in a school in the UK, think it might be an American/Canadian specific exercise that one…
May 23rd, 2008 | 2:55 pm
Hi Jonathan, thank you for this piece. I’ve been involved in similar exercises and can say that I was deeply impacted, every time. It would be wonderful if this type of training were an everyday part of our education throughout our school years. It’s my belief that we would be living a much kinder society as a result.
May 31st, 2008 | 5:12 pm
wow….Im SO inspired!
NOT, what b.s
May 31st, 2008 | 6:38 pm
(mrs vester from SU sent this to me by way of toolbar.)
hard not to cry when you see people openly expressing their vulnerabilities like that. especially hard for them do that, because they have already been treated poorly and are likely feeling terrified of showing their hurts.
i dont know how the world has gotten so detached and cruel, but it has. and this is how it is affecting others.
thanks for showing this.
May 31st, 2008 | 6:54 pm
[...] Jonathan Fields was the author of the particular blog post I found this video on, but he gives credit to Michel Fortin for the find. [...]
June 1st, 2008 | 3:29 pm
Even my hard hat, hard core buddies would be touched by this.
June 1st, 2008 | 5:35 pm
YES! YES! Thank you Yuba!
June 2nd, 2008 | 1:34 pm
Yes, I cried cuz i identified with being a victim and an abuser-hard to acknowledge. Why cant we guard our tongues more? The most lethal weapon in the universe.
Thanks for doing this video cuz it communicates more than words could ever do and i’m gonna circulate this to all my adult friends and children.
June 5th, 2008 | 7:35 pm
Oh for christ’s sake… Please.
This is so sappy. Jesus, man. Making fun of people is human nature. It hurts. No need for tears.
June 7th, 2008 | 1:55 pm
they do this in my school.
it’s a day called challenge day.
it’s supposed to bring kids who go through the same things together.
it’s a little more than just judgments though.
it’s also like.. personal experience.
June 7th, 2008 | 11:03 pm
This video tries to assume that those things criticized aren’t a normal part of growing up. Western society needs to toughen up, if kids learn to deal with this shit while they are young they build stronger foundations for dealing with the same type of crap that will happen to them later on in life. But no, instead we breed individuals without the self solid self confidence foundations that are required for them to act like individuals. We could take a lesson from easter societies on this. Why is it alright to criticize someone for smoking but not for being out of shape? All you have to do is travel and work and live in other cultures for awhile to realize how much of your character is nothing but conditioning and how much the society that you live in is nothing but culture. Is it better for an ugly kid to grow up thinking he is beautiful and always wondering why the hot girl in class keeps turning him down or for him to accept it and move on as a strong individual, conditioned as such at a young age by his peers, ?
June 8th, 2008 | 10:38 am
dan: “This video tries to assume that those things criticized aren’t a normal part of growing up.”
This video assumes responsibility for spreading awareness.
It does not assume that these things are not a normal part of growing up. If anything, it assumes that these things are considered TOO normal for the majority.
It assumes that maybe it can help others see the error of their ways if they show how they hurt others.
It assumes that sometimes even the ‘bad guys’ may have been hurt themselves, which led to their abusive behavior to begin with.
It assumes that people like you may visit blogs that promote it, only to thrash the awareness that can promote CHANGE as opposed to ‘deal with it’..
Am I to assume that you also take the same stand where ALL injustices are concerned?
would it also be safe to assume that you believe nobody should strive to promote this awareness because there are too many that will shoot it down..in the name of ‘its a normal part of life’?
If so, why did you bother to submit your comment? It was YOUR form of ‘awareness’ as distorted as it may be. Am I now to assume that you would rather spread “dealing with it is the answer” as opposed to “change is the answer”?
June 9th, 2008 | 11:42 pm
I agree with dan, you have to be able to take abuse. There are plenty of people that realize how making fun of others impacts them. In fact they count on it to get ahead, via spreading rumors, or directly to destroy other people’s confidence and reputation. It will never stop because there are truly people that do not care about other people, just themselves. The are called sociopaths and they will bash anyone to get ahead. So if you want a method of change, realize the motive of the person doing the name calling instead of letting their words destroy you. Then either ignore them or prove them wrong if what they say has an effect on more than your feelings. Because rolling over and crying about it doesn’t fix anything.
Sure this method might promote a moment of inspiration and you might be able to relate to the people during this intervention. But after that when the tears have stopped and emotions level out, you have different people to deal with and it isn’t realistic to have these meetings with everyone in the world, because no method is 100%. And this is borderline systematic brainwashing.
June 10th, 2008 | 6:23 am
just so we get this straight..sometimes, one couple that promote things of this nature can do far more than touch 1 person, or one school.
take a look at the source:
http://www.challengeday.org/about_us/how-we-got-started.html
the couple that began this effort, were featured on Oprah, and have received awards.
im not saying that poor treatment should be sniveled about then drowned in pity-me’s. im saying that theres far too many people that would rather say’ deal with it’ then there are people that will prmote otherwise. that is one aof our biggest problems today.
not enough care. Awareness will always be best. it will turn SOME around and they will will pass it on to their family, friends and children.
June 20th, 2008 | 9:03 pm
man i feel all alone, i wouldn’t have crossed the line at all
June 30th, 2008 | 5:23 pm
[...] found this on jonathanfields blog over the weekend and was [...]