On January 12,  2017, Mike Fisher, who travels around America giving motivational speeches to students, stopped by Seward High School to give a presentation about bullying.

One of the main messages Fisher was trying to spread through the schools was  forgiveness. He focused on how when people forgive it helps them move on with their lives. When we hold grudges, it’s really hard on us, and we have to live with that grudge and hatred for the person. Therefore, when we forgive someone, it helps us more than it helps the other person.

Another message he spoke about  is how “hurt people, hurt people.”  He gave an example of a person who, when growing up, was woken up each day by his dad punching him. Then, on his way to school, the first kid that he encountered would get beaten up, almost daily. That bully ended up going to jail eventually, and after he got released, he met the person he used to beat up while working at a restaurant together. The restaurant worker asked the bully why he beat him up when they were kids. The bully explained about his abusive father, which illustrates how “hurt people, hurt people.” He then asked the restaurant worker to forgive him, which he did. Fisher mentioned many people live in that type of situation and perhaps even some students at the presentation.

After he finished his motivational speech, he asked the high school and middle school faculty to come up on the stage and stand in front of the students. He told the students that there is always somebody, like a teacher, who would be there for them and help students get through tough problems in life.

Fisher’s motivational speech is going to help many of us now and later in life.  He has a website where he posts students poems, essays, photos. This is the link: http://considercharacter.org/