Walk a Mile in My Shoes

What is your dream?

Fairbury High School students actively listened to a powerful message Tuesday given by Mike Donahue from R5 Productions. According to his website, “R5 Productions has developed one of the most powerful and effective youth presentations in the country. Our goal is to equip, empower and encourage students on a personal level to bring them to a place where they can reconnect, rethink and rediscover. Students are looking for answers. They are trying to make sense of it all. They are searching for hope. R5 brings them that hope.”

To get the afternoon presentation started, Mike wanted the students to relax and laugh a little. To accomplish this, they watched a video of bloopers, stunts and just funny stuff! Then everyone was entertained by a simple dance contest.

As everyone was settling back down, Mike shared a bit of his life story in a manner that kept the attention of the students. After the presentation, Lucas said, “He’s the man. It’s nice to hear someone that can speak from our point of view.” Mike’s personal life story turned to the subject of drug and alcohol abuse. Why do kids make these choices? This is what led to one of Mike’s main points. “People self medicate to cover the emotional pain.” He mentioned that it is only Tuesday, but in the last two days of this week, he asked, “How many of you have heard some negative name calling?” After a few examples, numerous students raised their hands. Then he questioned, “How many of you said or heard a specific name that was meant to cause harm?” Again, multiple hands were raised. This was quick evidence of the pain inflicted in the students he was talking to, not just the stats he was talking about!

A second video captured the attention of everyone in the room, but this time it wasn’t funny like the bloopers. It showed real examples of what teenagers from across the US have posted on an anonymous blog. These were painful messages to read. Teens shared their real feelings about what was happening in their lives that no one else knew. Not their parents, teachers, counselors or their best friends. Mike guaranteed that some students in this school feel exactly the same way, “I can see it in your faces, in your eyes.”

Another valuable thought shared by Mike stated, “I wish words would leave bruises. Then you could see how much it hurts.” This is when he really got to the most important point of his message for the afternoon. Walk a mile in my shoes. Mike dumped a large bag of single shoes on to the stage. For years he has listened to stories and then includes the story in his presentation; using their shoe to share examples of real issues teens face every day. The emphasis was that if this girl’s friends wore her shoes for twenty minutes, they wouldn’t say those hurtful words any more. Or if you wore the shoe from this big 6’ 6” football player for 30 seconds you would never think of him the same way as you did before. These shoes belonged to state basketball winners, Division I tennis players, Jocks, Goth, Emo, Potheads, Cutters. Mike was quick to follow with the statement, “I’ve learned that I can’t just look at you and judge you. I have no idea who you really are.” After the convo, some Fairbury students even bought a blue shirt with a image of a nametag sticker that says, “Hello my name is not … what you label me.”

As a national speaker, Mike understands the process of pulling out the emotions of teens, then having to drive away. Therefore, he left everyone with two tools. First, he encouraged students to apologize for things they may have said or done to one of their peers. For the next minute, some students were able to literally walk up to another student and confess that they were wrong to say or do something that had hurt them. The second tool is a banner that says, “I WILL WALK A MILE”. Seniors and juniors were given the first opportunity to sign the banner with their name and their dream! The rest of the student body is invited to sign during lunch Wednesday if they are willing to “walk a mile”. Then the banner will be hung in the commons area as a reminder. This reminder is the tool he was talking about. After the convo, Ridge expressed, “I think a lot of people will actually take this one in hopefully.”

Throughout the hour-and-a-half presentation, Mike captured the students’ attention with his humor, true stories and creative voices! From out of nowhere, in the midst of another discussion, Mike expressed, “I love Fairbury!” He has been here at least five times in the last six years speaking to different groups of teens. And he is always touched by the lives of our students. He sincerely does love Fairbury!

Many students hung around after school as they bought t-shirts or books and some of them waited to talk to Mike. They wanted the chance to tell him what it is like to walk in their shoes. One girl with tears in her eyes explained, “I didn’t have a favorite part. I don’t know. I liked all of it!” Jeff was standing next to her and said, “I have one really good friend (pause) and that is hard to find.”

Talking to Mike after all the students were gone, he said, “I was pretty raw, but I could tell that’s what they needed to hear.” He would probably like to know what Tara had to say. “It was amazing! I was teary eyed. He helped me think more about life and making decisions … I learned about respecting people because I wouldn’t want to be put in other people’s shoes like he talked about.” Kenzie also thought the convo was effective. “I think a lot of motivational speakers bring out the best of people in the moment they are speaking, but I think Mike is different. I truly believe he got to people who desperately needed to hear it. Whether it is following your dream, getting out of the terrible habits of drugs and alcohol or the painful and deadly cutting method, I think he really encouraged all of FHS to change.”

Parents and students are invited to visit the R5 website. Here you can learn more about the five Rs. Relevant communication, Reconnect with your dreams, Rethink your perspective, Rediscover your influence and Remember every student.

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