Please take some moments to watch this.

This is more than spoken word ‘artistry’ – though there is such artistry in this, such command of the art of storytelling by this Canadian poet and such incredible animated emotion by many different artists. But this is more than art. This is the best example of why storytelling is one of our most necessary crafts, as well as one of our most powerful healers.

Shane Koyczan has always been a poet of great simplicity and truth, he’s always spoken direct from his big and beautiful and open heart and he’s always had the power to make me cry but here his voice is even more deeply touching. Made for a project to confront bullying in schools – as Shane explains: “My experiences with violence in schools still echo throughout my life but standing to face the problem has helped me in immeasurable ways. I wrote To This Day, a spoken word poem, to further explore the profound and lasting impact that bullying can have on an individual. Schools and families are in desperate need of proper tools to confront this problem. This piece is a starting point.”

The video was created by huge number of animators and motion artists, creating separate 20 second segments that have been threaded together to form an amazingly cohesive vision of the poem. There’s some incredible work in here.

For anyone who has experienced bullying, from either side, from childhood or adulthood, from school or family or workplace or anywhere – this kind of communication is massively important. Share the video. Find out more about the http://www.tothisdayproject.com at that link, and buy the track via BandCamp or iTunes. Spread the word.