[Taking a break from music today, I'd like to discuss an unbelievably moving video clip I saw earlier today that I deem very important and believe should be talked about. It is called "To This Day" by Shane Koyczan.]
This masterpiece has to be the most moving and unapologetically evocative and provocative piece of video I have ever seen in my life. Remember Amanda Todd's pre-suciceide youtube clip from last year that caused a waves-worth of tears from everyone who was ensnared by its content? I didn't shed a tear watching that. In fact, I was more into the awesome song playing in the background than anything Todd was telling us about with her note cards, and let me assure you, I could relate to almost everything she went through before her death (I still don't know the title and the artist, by the way.) This, on the other hand, made me break down in tears like a kid who just lost his favorite blanket, or a man who just lost his pet cat that he's had for all his life to a terminal blood disease (that scenario was actually the last time I cried, almost three years ago.) The sheer level of quality inherent in Koyczan's writing in this video is masterful and makes everything I have written on this blog so far look like Rebecca Black's "Friday" in comparison to Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata". I'll be honest, It temporarily made me want to quit writing right after I saw it, and even after the tears eventually subsided enough for me to start thinking again, I was still apprehensive about writing a blog today. But, hey, there's always going to be someone better than you when it comes to anything you can do, like it or not. So, I persevere.
I have never heard or read anyone's work on the bullying issue that has been put so eloquently and poetically, not even close. You can almost, no, totally feel the inner pain Koyczan has experienced in the past that must have been so great that there could be no other way for him to be inspired to write such a definitive statement on bullying and how to persevere. It is simply beautiful, and it brought up emotions in me that I haven't experienced since I was a victim of bullying all those years ago. Going back to Amanda Todd, her video was just a cry for help from a girl I could relate to, but couldn't bring myself to truly care about. It's unfortunate, but to quote TJ Kirk, her story is not unique, nor it it uniquely tragic. She was a victim, just another victim of a very widespread problem and she does not deserve exclusive veneration. Some would even say that it is wrong to give her that kind of veneration, and I would agree. I will admit, the different scenarios described by Koyczan aren't uniquely tragic either, but what separates "To This Day" from Amanda Todd's video is the overall message. The last part of "To This Day" is an ode to all who slogged through the tough times, the bullshit and the pain and came out victorious, basically, the "graduating class of all the people who made it" and it is greatly empowering. Amanda Todd's video is not empowering, in fact, I think it's just the opposite. Why? Because Todd didn't make it, she gave in to the pressure and killed herself; the ultimate form of self defeat. In what world is that empowering or encouraging? It's just a sad story with no revelation at the end, and the only real message is, well, I don't know. Is it that bullying causes emotional pain? Well, everyone knows that, so there is nothing really revelatory about that particular video and the story it tells.
So Koyczan is empowering, Todd is not. But there is a similarity between the two videos that isn't the fact that they're both about bullying. The similarity is that neither of them offer any sort of insight about what really needs to be done about bullying. I notice that very few people are identifying the root causes of the problem, and fewer are proposing any solutions. People aren't even really diagnosing the symptoms of the problem. What people are doing is watching youtube videos and liking facebook tribute pages and then feeling great about how morally conscious they think they are. If that's you, you're not morally conscious, you're just showing sympathy to dead and distressed people before you move on to the next moral crusade. If you care so much about the larger problem of bullying, I would start extending compassion to your fellow classmates and those who are still alive and being tormented (that, of course, excludes Amanda Todd.) While Koyczan succeeds in showing empathy to those who could relate, and does a fine job at it, I'd like to hear what he has to say about what he thinks needs to be done about this very prevalent problem.
So, what do you think about the issue? Was I too hard on Todd? Weigh in with your comments below.
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