Speak Up

There are these moments in life where you know you're about to do something important.  You can feel the anticipation building, the excitement mounting, and the anxiety settling.  There's this sense that something is going to be much more important than you ever realized.  

I'm storyboarding tonight.  For the first time I am drawing out the scenes to my first script that I will be directing.  I can see every scene and hear every word.  And I'm starting to realize the expectations I'm going to have with this production.  

People are expecting it to be as good or better than "Nonfiction."  I know that.  But I don't think it'll even be fair to compare the two pieces.  They're different styles, different approaches, different messages. But at the same time, I know the expectations are there, and I definitely welcome them.

I am used to selling myself short so I can set myself up to exceed someone's lowered expectations.  I'm a hustler, just like my dad.   Only we don't do it for money, we do it to save face because we're terrified of disappointing people. 

But I can't follow in my dad's footprints forever and for once I'm not going to sell myself short.  I have an amazing cast, a solid script and the mentality that I can pull off this production.  This is going to be different than anything I've ever made before (film aside), because for once I have set expectations for myself. 

This story has come to mean so much more to me than just having been my first script or my first time seriously directing a film.  This story is about the power one voice can have to save a life.  It is about every child who's been bullied and every child who's seen it.  

This is everyone's story, whether you were the bully or the victim, the bystander or the superhero.  This is everyone's story and how there's hope for everyone if one person can learn the power of their voice.  

So I leave you with one of my favourite Bible verses tonight, because while some Christians may not see eye-to-eye with me, there's no denying we're both reading from the same book. 

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,

for the rights of all who are destitute. 

Speak up and judge fairly;

defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Proverbs 31: 8-9

I was needy in middle school and high school and even college.  I needed someone to stick up for me when it seemed like the entire world was against me.  And eventually I made some amazing friends who did.  So trust me, to everyone and anyone who will ever read this: it gets better.  You just gotta stick around long enough to see it.