I wasn’t bullied too much as a kid but I did experience it.
Luckily my best friend Paul, was very tall so I tended to be left alone – at least till they found out he was a wimp – however I did see what it did to other kids and quite frankly, it was horrendous.
Let me say quite categorically that bullying is evil and I hate how some people can brush it off as ‘childish pranks’ or simply a ‘byproduct of an over pampered society’.
Sure both those things exist, however bullying is something very different
At its heart, bullying is mental and physical cruelty …
Not the odd thing which causes you to cry or feel sad, I’m talking about the relentless provoking that ends up destroying a young persons hopes, dreams and potential – and without those things, they have no reason to try, no reason to explore, no reason to live.
I know that sounds dramatic, but for many that’s how it feels.
The reason I am writing this is because I’ve just read a news report about a 13 year old boy called Andrew Johnson who has appeared on the TV show, ‘Britain’s Got Talent’.
Andrew loves to sing.
Infact from age 6 he has been filling the air with music – not just the popular stuff, but requiem’s.
The thing is, because this is not what kids are supposed to do [as written in some invisible code-of-youth-conduct] he has been bullied mercilessly for it.
And to make it even harder, he lives on a Council Estate where the ability to live privately is severely diminished.
In short, he is a victim of both his age and his environment.
However this little guy hasn’t let the bullying get him down.
His response has been to just keep on singing because as he say’s …
“I don’t want to be hanging around the streets, I want to make something of my life”.
However while that is obviously true, you could see as he took to the stage that he wasn’t just nervous, he was scared.
Scared that he was about to make a big mistake.
Scared he was about to attract even more bullying that ever before.
Scared the thing that he has held onto for protection was going to be revealed as a sham.
But he needn’t of worried because quite frankly, he was amazing …
Not because he is a kid of 13.
Not because he is a victim of bullying.
Not because he lives on a Council Estate.
But because he is great – truly, magically great.
Now here’s the thing, while I have had all sorts of names thrown at me, one I will happily admit to is being sentimental and when I watched Andrew’s performance, it made me cry.
Yes, a 37 year old man cried.
And what’s more I don’t care.
The thing is I cried because HE IS 13.
I cried because HE IS a victim of bullying.
I cried because HE DOES live on a Council Estate.
And I cried because HE IS seriously, seriously good.
However what really affected me was the look on his face when he heard the judges opinions.
These were people whose comments really mattered to him, people who had the power to crush or liberate him and what they said wasn’t just good, it was great.
As they spoke you could see the weight of his World slowly being lifted off his shoulders and when Simon Cowell passed the final, positive judgement, you could see his life suddenly had colour, hope, and happiness again – all the thing a kid of 13 should have.
Now I know that some people are going to say he’s just a fat kid who can sing and that I’d not feel this way if he came from a better background – and maybe that’s true – however that is his reality and seeing someone triumph over adversity makes me enormously happy because not only do I believe everyone deserves the opportunity to shine, but it is the sort of thing that can help countless others start to believe in themselves and maybe start to take charge of life rather than let life take charge of them.
I’ve written how important I believe optimism is to make the World a better place and as much as I hate these ‘talent’ type shows, when you see something like this happen, you realise their purpose is much bigger than just a production line for new singers.
I was lucky.
I had fantastic parents and fantastic mentors – people who encouraged me and believed in me so that when I faced an obstacle, they helped me help myself through it.
I never realised how lucky I was till much later but I was very lucky indeed.
Everyone deserves to have this sort of support system because everyone has – or should have – the potential to succeed in some way.
And when I say succeed, I don’t mean interms of fame or fortune, I mean interms of fulfilment and happiness, though given the way even schools and universities are acting, I can see why we may have lost sight of that.
I appreciate I’m being all hippyshit again but I cannot tell you how important I think this is – and if I, at 37, still crave to hear words of encouragement and support from people who matter … people who want me to succeed on my own terms … people who lead by example not just by words … then I cannot imagine how impactful it could be on a kid of 13 in Newcastle.
I really don’t know where I’m going with this post, I just wanted to write it.
Maybe it’s because I’m fed up of how brands have forgotten the power and importance of emotion.
If they’re not communicating the ‘lowest common denominator’ they are trying to make ‘vulgar displays of wealth’ something to aspire to or worse still, trying to make everything aspirational/elitist.
And yet I sit in countless meetings where they not only talk about emotion, but how their brand is an important part of people’s lives.
The sad thing is, there are countless brands that really could be important in people’s lives … not just interms of the category they operate in, but life on a broader scale … but when we live in a World where strategy is only important until they can see another way to make a quick buck, then the laziness of brands is there for all to see.
Here’s to you Andrew, you have no idea how much impact you have probably made without a single vision statement, brand proposition or self-indulgent creative execution and for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
[PS: I wrote this post yesterday – when Emah left – which probably explains why it’s so slushy, ha]