I love that the art style changes innumerable times, though I have to admit that it distracted me from listening to what he was saying.

This video makes me want to become a teacher.

amazing

Searing and brilliant. I hope Austin sees this.

All of this would bring a salty tear to my eye, were it not presented on an ageist blog.

Great animations, but is there a transcript anywhere? I have trouble hearing the narrator and Google isn't helping.

@5 - it was a self-effacing joke, actually "before I realized FAT kids are not designed to climb trees."

Bad spoken word is still bad spoken word, even with animation and violins.

@8 - Yeah, totally. After several years of being a target at a small-town K-12, my parents pulled me out and homeschooled me. I would have turned out to be a radically different person if I'd had to stay in public school, and I'm eternally grateful that they saw the problem, saw that they couldn't change the system, and took control in the way they could...

@11 Good lord...seriously?

@11 you realize the author was talking about himself right?

You know, it's a shame that kids that got their asses kicked in school (verbally or physically) often grow up to be adults who think kids should stop whining about getting their asses kicked in school. For what reason? Because it builds "character"? Or because they secretly want to see someone else go through what they did?

Wow, that's fucking powerful. As someone who was bullied relentlessly in school, this really resonates with me.

Thank you for this.

I was a fat kid, too. Bullied and made fun of. My parents got me some counseling in 4th grade. It made all the difference. I was empowered to not care about what they said and to see the beauty in myself even though I saw flaws too. It isn't hard to give kids the power to take the control away from kids who know nothing better than to hurt. We need to do better at this, as parents, teachers and friends.

That whole 'mirror' bit is exactly true. The counselor made me look in the mirror two times a day and say something that I loved about myself. It sounds really stupid, but it helped more than I care to admit. I learned to love myself enough that the lack of love from those around me didn't matter any more. I saw their stupidity more than I listened to their hurtful words. If you have a kid that is struggling, try it. It might help them, too.

Great video.

The author of this should be elected the next Pope. If there is a God and He gives one single damn about us, this would happen.

My other fantasy is that Diane The Bigot Medley and her All Bigots Traditional Prom attendees would be locked inside some stinky ass gymnasium in Possum Trot Indiana and be forced to watch this video 100 times. By forced I mean they are straightjacketed and duct taped into uncomfortable chairs with their eyelids sewn open and given electric shocks every time their eyes stray from the straight ahead and watching position. After 100 viewings they are asked to repeat, ver batum every word and if they miss more than 5 words, they have to start over again. Watch, test, repeat until they get it right.