We had an awesome presenter on Thursday – Scary Guy .  He is a dynamic presenter and the kids were very impressed.  I don’t think I’ve ever been a gym full of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders (450ish) who sat in shocked, even horrified silence as they viewed the opening powerpoint.  When Scary Guy actually entered the gym you could have heard a pin drop.  Scary Guy is tattooed over 85% of his body, was dressed in what looked like biker leather and sported a bleached blonde short mohawk and beard, and numerous facial piercings.  His message?   If you want world peace, it starts with you!  We need to love each other and understand each other.  You control  your mind and actions. 

He challenged the kids (and us) to go 7 days and 7 nights without calling someone a name other than their own.  If you slip up (and you will), go face to face to that person and apologize.  He preached a terrific sermon – as close to church as you can go in a public school– from a truly universal point of view.  It’s the golden rule – treat others as you would wish to be treated.  It takes a lot to impress me when it comes to assembly presentations. 

This was terrific!  I’m glad I made it back to school for this.  It didn’t hurt that his whole school presentation lasted an hour and a half, and then our 6th graders got another 90 minutes with him in a training session.  He told the kids that if you receive negative energy (someone calls you a bad name, verbally assaults you, etc.) you have a choice.  You can accept that negative energy which gets stored inside you, creating stress, and when your “stress tank” is full, you will pass on that negative energy) OR you can reject the negative energy, refuse to “own” the bad name, and walk away, realizing that the bad energy belongs to the sender, and not to you.  The kids were told that when you accept the negative energy somebody else controls you. 

The other big piece that impressed the kids was that he asked the audience to raise their hands if they had ever called somebody a rotten name.  Every hand went up.  Then he asked how many people had been called a bad name.  Every hand went up.  Finally he asked if they had every hit somebody, (including a brother or sister, “cause they’re human too”)  Again, everyone raised their hand.  Scary Guy then told us that we were all bullies, all victims, and therefore all participants in the vicious cycle of violence. 

I didn’t expect this to turn into a Scary Guy posting, but he was amazing.