Child's viral video has message for all
Bianca Giaever, a Narrative Studies major creates a compelling eight minute video told from the perspective of a six-year-old, about the courage to get over our fears and the happiness and adventure we find along the way.
Giaever asks the six-year-old, Asa Baker-Rouse, if there are any stories he could tell that he would like to be turned into a movie.
He truthfully answers that he doesn’t know and he said “I don’t even know what happened yesterday,” but that doesn’t stop him from giving the viewer an innocent perspective on how to overcome the fear of endings.
The video titled “The Scared is Scared” is told by Baker-Rouse’s tale of an “Asa Bear”
and a “Toby mouse,” played by two men in costumes, having an eventful day at the swimming pool. At the end of his tale he comes to the conclusion that although their time must end because “the pool will be closing for the winter,” Baker Rouse said, “it doesn’t mean that their fun must end as well.”
Giaever compares this ending to how she feels about her then upcoming graduation from Middlebury College in Middlebury, VT. She asks Baker-Rouse if he has any advice about how she should react to the end of this chapter in her life.
“If, like, something feels like you’re closing, you should just say. OK, I’m fine. I think about something I really like to do. You think of something else until the nervous has gone out of you,” Baker-Rouse said.
There are many obstacles that we must face in life, many endings that we must come to terms with and thousands of beginnings we must choose from.
According to an article from CBS News The Feed, this video deals with “the universal concept of what it means to be scared for both children and adults” told with much simplicity it almost seems like common sense.
Although it may seem like something that is easier to grasp with age, we must be reminded time and time again that most everything comes to an end but it doesn’t mean we have to be afraid of what comes next.
Baker-Rouse said “the scared is scared of the things you like.” In other words what we’re afraid of can be easily overcome when we override that feeling with our most beloved novelties or even comforting food.
According to an article in the Huffington Post, we must “banish our fears by thinking happy thoughts” and Giaever captures this message visually through Baker-Rouse’s childlike perspective.
We can all take this advice and apply it to our lives as college students. There are many fears that we must overcome to continue to strive to better our education.
There are fears of transferring, whether or not we’ll even be considered for admittance.
There are fears of not being able to handle juggling employment and schoolwork.
Even personal fears for example, how to make relationships work when time often changes how people feel or think.
But we must take a step back and realize that endings are inevitable and beginnings are always upon us. We can’t let our fears take hold but rather diminish our fears as Asa advises, with the things we like.
According to The Atlantic “Giaever and her scriptwriter share some charming observations” on how to deal with the on goings of life and the endings that come with it.
