A Poem to the Bullied and Beautiful.

“One's dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but it can never be taken away unless it is surrendered.” ~ Michael J. Fox

I was bullied growing up - humiliated each day by a group of young girls who knew nothing of life, and the sensitivities of our delicate human spirit.

I dreaded waking up, as I knew it meant another day of facing them once again - these horrible beasts who made such a game of torturing my soul.

And, much later on in life ~ I faced a bully of quite another sort, one who used "love" as his armor.

There are those who'll urge you to simply "stand up for yourself"~ but, how do you stand up for you, when you don't know who you really are?


That's when the bullies will try to take you down...a final strike when all of the 'fight' is gone.

But, they can never take that which isn't surrendered ~ those indomitable pieces of spirit, which from the ashes always rise.

With this recital of his celebrated poem, 'To This Day,' Shane Koyczan tells his most beautiful tale of 'taking his heart from its hiding place under the bed' and out into this world again.

This is his tale of rising above.

Namaste, my most beautiful friends ~ and here's to those pieces of spirit that never let go.

Koyczangives Koyszan tells his own story of rising up once again...facing the