 I have just completed the Germany phase of our Comical Sense tour. In Italy now!
On this trip, I have met some incredible, forgotten kids. I say forgotten because most people have no idea what children of military families go through. Or, for that matter, even give them a second thought. (This is the reason Ronda Englander and I co-founded our non-profit, the Comfort Crew for Military Kids.) We often see the slow motion video of a child running into their dad or mom’s arms upon their return from a deployment. And that’s about the extent of it. I say forgotten kids because these little souls, almost two million of them in the US, float among us without most people realizing: That they have to move every two to three years often leaving friends and family behind at every turn. That their parents may be on the fifth, sixth or seventh deployment. Or even more. That some will go to six, seven and eight different schools before they graduate. That the divorce rate in the military is very high. That military kids have higher rates of suicide ideation than kids in the general population. On the subject of military kids, I could not help but shoot a picture of this little girl (Norah) when I was at her school in Ramstein last week. Her little soul shines out from behind her stunning eyes. This is a wonderful, thoughtful human being who has not chosen to be a military kid but will go through a lot while her family serves to protect the rest of us. As a salute to our military kids, I’d like to paraphrase an e-mail I received some time ago when we first began the With You All The Way Tour. Dear Mr. Trevor, When my daddy was deployed I wrote my feelings down in the journal that you gave us. When my daddy came back I showed him my journal. When he read my journal he started to cry. When my daddy started to cry, that’s when he got his feelings back. When he got his feelings back, that’s when I knew I got my daddy back. Delissa (9 years old)
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 The Comical Sense Tour is in Germany this week! We got this lovely note from a student who gave us permission to share her thoughts about the presentation. Check out some pictures below from our stop in Utah.
I met a young girl recently who was going through a really tough time at school. She does not fit in, feels like an outsider, is exceptionally creative, not very sporty, test averse, and told me she doesn’t like life very much because it is too hard and often sad. Self-harm has crossed her mind.
I chatted with her for a long time and finally discovered that she has ADD and feels ashamed and embarrassed about it because she is teased at school and feels like she is not very smart due to the diagnosis. I told her some dumb jokes, a few self-deprecating stories and then shared a little secret I have with her. I also struggled with ADD at school and still often wrestle with the remnants today. She was so happy to learn that I was like her. I told her that we belong to an amazing and exciting subset of people who rock the world, sometimes literally. I am thrilled to say that she was encouraged and inspired to turn her struggle into expression and is now painting up a storm and making little movies and, yes, doing a million projects at the same time as most ADD people do. She has found comfort in her discomfort though, and that warms my heart. To help her(and anyone else) understand how my brain works, I made this little, animated video about my experience with ADD. Many people have some of the issues those with ADD experience but most don’t have them all tangled up together. Other people with ADD include Justin Timberlake, Emma Watson, Zoe Deschanel, Ryan Gosling, Lisa Ling, Adam Levine, Magic Johnson, Mozart, DaVinci, Richard Branson, and astronaut Scott Kelly, to name just a few. (This short video is my personal experience and not a general statement on the subject:) The Comical Sense Channel provides meaningful entertainment for kids to make them happy, healthier, and more confident. |
Author"The place where I grow ideas and create stories using words, illustrations and photographs" - Trevor Romain Archives
January 2020
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