I love spoken word poetry, but it’s been a while since I’ve heard it. Well, Shane Koyvzan prepares a powerful TED Talk on the topic of bullying. I found Shane when I fell in love with the talent of Sarah Kay. I’ve covered him on this blog before with his spoken poem, This Is My Voice. This time his spoken word is one that will touch us all, especially if you’ve ever been on the receiving end of bullying and survived it. This talk will bring you to tears. You feel all of our pain in his words. You remember the need to crumble into ourselves in order to escape the horror of the moment. You hate not fitting in. But you survive simply because you have to. But people like Shane make it so much easier to find others who have been victimized by this intolerable act that few stand up to.
Here’s the part that resounded the most with me:
but I want to tell them
that all of this shit
is just debris
leftover when we finally decide to smash all the things we thought
we used to be
and if you can’t see anything beautiful about yourself
get a better mirror
look a little closer
stare a little longer
because there’s something inside you
that made you keep trying
despite everyone who told you to quit
you built a cast around your broken heart
and signed it yourself
you signed it
“they were wrong”
Shane, you’re a beautiful man. Never stop.
