All of us involved with EWest Music come from different backgrounds, each with our own unique story to tell. It was brought up at one of our production meetings that EWest Music should partner with a cause relevant to issues in today’s society and an anti-bullying campaign group is what seemed most fitting.
Every person today has been touched by bullying in one form or another. It could be first hand-experience, (the first part of my high school years were something I would never wish on anyone and quite possibly some of the most difficult years of my life), it may be that you know someone who is or was being bullied, or it could be that you yourself feel that the only way to have people like you is to pick on someone to fit in. Bullying doesn’t go away after being a child, nor after your teen years, and becoming an adult is not an escape either. In my personal opinion, the only way to outgrow your bullies is to feel sorry for them, because the issue is within the person doing the bullying, not the person it is directed at.
Throughout my research for this article, I came across so many inspiring videos and articles, but one stood out above the rest to me, and being a local production, I thought a perfect fit to our site.
Imagine a World
by Donny Parenteau, featuring Michele Dubois.
As Donny Parenteau was touring schools and giving anti-bullying speeches, one of the students approached him following his presentation and spoke of being bullied herself, which immediately inspired him to write the song. Local organization Saskatoon Media Group funded the the music video for Imagine a World which features Saskatoon’s own Michele Dubois providing backup vocals.
“It starts with a dream. My dream is that the whole world will be a bully-free zone.”
– Donny Parenteau
While this video has a happy ending, let’s do our part to make sure the people in our lives are aware that it is okay to stand up against bullying, and to have a happy ending of their own.
Melissa
-Lovin’ Life, One Day At a Time