upworthy

inspiration general

More

Bullies called him pork chop. He took that pain with him and then cooked it into this.

Shane Koyczan was bullied a lot when he was a kid. So he took that pain and made this stunning video with the help of some amazingly talented people. It's kind of breathtaking and powerful, just a warning. Also, it has a happy ending. At 1:20, he reminds us all what we heard growing up. At 5:23, if you've been bullied, you REALLY need to hear these words.

If you wanted to help confront bullying, share this using the buttons below. And thanks for watching the whole beautiful thing.

From Your Site Articles

The Work These Folks Do Is Nothing Short Of Magic. Watch Closely — You Might Be Mesmerized.

What if we used our privilege to help change the world in small but powerful and sustainable ways? These folks are doing it.

<span class="redactor-invisible-space"></span>

This is some amazing work they do; empowering local populations through helping to build schools, clean water systems, women's alternative income programs, medical centers, and a sustainable food supply. In addition to all of the win-win-wins that provides, this keeps big oil from buying up their land — and the rainforest — in order to ... well, you know the drill. Pun intended.

To date (December 2014), Change Heroes has accomplished a lot.

Projects funded:

  • 100+ schoolhouses Kenya, Sierra Leone, Ghana, China, India, Ecuador, Haiti, Nicaragua, Laos, and Tanzania
  • Libraries in India and Bangladesh
  • Water projects in Nepal
  • Girls scholarships in India
  • Anti-sex-trafficking work in Cambodia

Stats:

  • Over 5,000 people have given $3.33 a day for three months from over 40 countries.
  • Campaigns have launched in Swedish, German, French, Spanish, and English.
  • They plan to expand to hundreds of more cases in 2015.
  • Approximately 154,000 people will be affected by the projects to date.

Countries served:

  • Kenya
  • Sierra Leone
  • Ghana
  • China
  • India
  • Ecuador
  • Haiti
  • Nicaragua
  • Cambodia
  • Laos
  • Bangladesh
  • Nepal
  • Tanzania

They also have a page on their website that keeps updating how they're doing. Here's one from Dec. 10, 2014:

More

Here Are Just Some Of The People Living With An Extra Chromosome. And Rocking It.

Here are some pictures of people being people — successful people at that. Whatever they define as success, they're doing it. Even if it's simply being happy.

About one baby in 700 is born with Down syndrome. It is a genetic disorder caused by an extra chromosome 21 (or part of one). It can cause conditions such as physical growth delays, characteristic facial features, and sometimes mild-to-moderate intellectual disability — but each person with Down syndrome is unique and may possess some characteristics or none.

It used to mean an early death, but advances in medicine mean people with it can live to 60 or even older.

Some folks with Down syndrome are educated in typical school classes, and others need specialized education to meet their needs. Here are just a few of the people you might see out and about in our society who have Down syndrome.

<span class="redactor-invisible-space"></span>
Heroes

After 70 Seconds Of Stuff We Don’t Know, This Gets So Deep I Don’t Know What To Do With Myself

Sure, at first it's all random thoughts about our dumbness, but then he drops something so profound that it could change what someone thinks about how to live life.

"He" is John Lloyd, and he's a producer and creator of lots of beloved British comedies.

He starts with a simple but weird question:

What are the things we don't know?

Well, putting aside, um, like 96% of everything for a minute, he's got a list of three biggies.

Big Thing We Don't Understand #1: Consciousness.

Hm, what is that pesky thing anyway? Good thing we don't have to touch it. Ew.

Big Thing We Don't Understand #2: Gravity.

We know some things about atoms and such, but do we have a clue what makes gravity work? Nope.

Big Thing We Don't Understand #3: Explosions.

We don't really know what makes them happen. (Maybe it's consciousness, ahem.)

Big Thing We Don't Understand #4: Comedy.

OK, this is getting personal. Lloyd's created some very funny stuff (like "Blackadder") and even he doesn't know what makes anyone laugh. (That's him with the rubber nose, btw.)

But he says this is all cool because "ignorance drives science."

"Any fool can find answers. People who ask new questions, they're the geniuses." — John Lloyd

If "ignorance is at the heart of any new kind of discovery," as he says, maybe you don't really need to know much.

Lloyd reckons the trick is figuring out what you do need to know.

So we might stop investing so much in arguments about things we can't really know while we're letting really important things in our own lives go by unnoticed.

What use is being smart if you don't use it intelligently?

And then, boom. There it is. Here's what's smart:

Kindness.

Kindness is always better than almost anything. And we all know it, even if we'd rather not admit it to our insecure — OK, selfish — selves sometimes.

Lloyd suggests it's worth getting over that hesitation and doing what we know to be right. It's "extraordinarily powerful," sez him.

Because:

The video makes all of this just plain impossible to argue with. Enjoy.

From Your Site Articles
Trending Stories