Do you really know me?
Nina SayLately a lot of my friends have been talking about the new show If You Really Knew Me on MTV. This show has really brought back some interesting memories for me.
During high school, I did not get along with very many people. I was shy and always happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and earned a few not so very nice titles along the way, and boy you bet people never let me forget it!
My sophomore year of high school a program came to our school that was called "Breaking Down The Walls" and naturally I signed up. Unlike the t.v. show nobody knew anything about it beforehand, nobody knew about the hugging, nobody knew about the crying, and nobody really understood what they were going to gain from it except the fact that they were excused from class.
Now, everything you see on the show actually happens. The groups in circles, the line crossing exercise, and the awkward games in the beginning. Granted, the latest episode had the kids sitting on cushioned chairs while at my school we had plastic bleachers and metal folding chairs. Not so glamorous.
In my experience with this program, for a moment, a split moment--you feel as though you can be best friends with the people in the room with you. Bonded, that seems to be a better way to explain it. After I completed the program at my high school, things just seemed to be at peace. At least for those who actually attended.
It turned from a reason to get out of class, to a spark of maturity and acceptance.
It felt good, you know to feel like peers not like we were trying to climb the food chain. Although I know some people think the program and t.v. show is a bunch of bs, I can tell you first hand what a positive impact these kinds of exercises have on kids who are doing everything they can to find their place in the world.
I was one of those kids that the "Challenge Day" helped. If your kids speak about one of these problems coming to their school, please encourage them to attend.
Tell them that I encourage them to go, because all those tears and hugs are really grounding--you will feel like a changed person after an experience like that.
And maybe it will help you stop back-talking your mom too!
:)
Reader Comments (3)
Great post, Nina! I think as teenagers we were all trying to "fit in" bravo on finding something to help bridge gaps. :)
Thanks for your post! I'm a huge fan of Challenge Day and I've literally seen the difference it can make in the life of a teenager! I appreciated your post because it is interesting to hear it directly from a participant of a program like this years later! Thanks again!
[...] did a post earlier about the TV show “If You Really Knew Me,” talking about my experiences in high school with a similar program called Breaking Down the Walls. [...]