Quaren-teenager "It's NOT ok!"

It's Not ok! Our teenagers are just as important as our first responders and essential workers. Their is a shared suffering that our teenagers are trying to deal with and they should not have to do it alone. Teen suicide and depression is on the rise. Adults have learned to cope and expect teens to do the same without the tools necessary. Paul Bunch from River Rock Film Studio in Hollywood, California shares the story of his son and his latest project "Alone." Paul recounts hearing his son tell him "It's not ok" and realizing as a father and an artist he had to do something. 

Paul interviewed teenagers and what he found out will get your attention and make you realize we are neglecting our youth. Paul's project is a call to action. A wake up call to adults. We need to talk to our young men and women and let them know we are their advocates and we are suffering with them. 

In the shared experience we can produce solutions that heal. 

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Transcript

Lyrics: 0:01

Yeah. Yeah, he came a long way I can do to do all came a long way could do was, I could do all I can do. I'm not afraid of the moment. I'm not afraid I can't hold it. I got to get up in the morning. I gotta know I'm going to take in whatever controllers show me opponents coming opponent.

Terence Shigg: 0:40

Oh, welcome to the peace project with Terence l Shigg. Today we will be having a special guest. His name is Paul bunch, Paul bunch is the creative director for river rock films, and a long, lifelong friend of mine. So this man is one of the people that has known me longer than any other person besides my family on this earth, a very influential person in my life grew up with him was one of my protectors and friends young and growing up. And I just wanted to bring him on. And today we're going to talk about kids. And growing up in the time of COVID kids and COVID is what we're going to talk about. He has a very unique story and working on a project and I'd like for him to really tell you about it.

Dwayne E. Shigg: 1:36

Anybody can use foundation teaches our youth to step off into life with their best foot forward without cowardice, but with courage and dignity. ABC was founded by legendary Light Heavyweight Champion Archie Moore in 1957. He had a heart and passion for helping the youth. He believed if we went into the business of prevention, we could save billions of dollars and millions of lives. He started ABC to teach us the basic ABCs of life. Are you concerned about the world today? So you want to help train our youth to be the change needed in the world? Join us in the fight for equality in the fight for justice in the fight for our youth. If you would like to help go to WWW dot ABC youth foundation.org. That's www dot ABC youth foundation.org be well and be blessed.

Paul Bunch: 2:33

So look, man, it's kind of one of these projects that you just got to go do it on faith, because I don't know how I'm gonna finish as I sit here. I have no idea how I'm gonna finish this project. Because my mind producers just did a breakdown of the script. And he was like, Paul, are you out of your mind? Like, he was like, you are trying to shoot a studio feature film here when you got no money? Like how is this gonna work? And I was like, just pray on it. Like, like, Look, it's gonna happen. It's already weird. The weirdest thing. Can I just jump in and tell you a quick story? Well, let's, uh,

Terence Shigg: 3:19

let's do an intro. Um,

Paul Bunch: 3:21

yeah, so I always feel a little uncomfortable giving titles because I'm really nobody. But But yeah, so I'm a writer, director and I work at river rock film, which is the company I helped to put together and you know, my partners have kind of made it more important I got really lucky I got lucky because I joined the Kavanaugh family who is you know from relativity thing. And so it's been amazing I'm just watching this this idea of storytelling, you know, with no money solely become a real studio. So that's so that's been important. directed my first feature a couple of years ago, bachelor lion and and that was like a dream come true. You know,

Terence Shigg: 4:12

and that's available on Amazon Prime.

Paul Bunch: 4:17

It's on iTunes. It's on Apple. It's on it's on Amazon Prime amazon prime. right that's available now. So yeah, it's just it's just something that I've always loved doing is telling stories. Just whether it's around a campfire or on the phone today I'm going to have a good time just chatting with you. So so this this this film medium and river rock has afforded me it's just a slightly bigger platform to tell story. So Paul BunchBlanche,

Terence Shigg: 4:51

yes. And I love the story and I know we talked about it once is just how you came up with the name river rock. I think that kind of Right, like the stage where, you know, importance of storytelling to you.

Paul Bunch: 5:06

Yeah, man. So my first of all is my son's middle name. And river rock comes from a Cheyenne cheese with my father is half Native American, Cheyenne. And there was a chief, many years ago named chief river rock. And he was known for carving stone like images on flat Flat rocks and leaving them in shallow river bends so that you could walk along the river and kind of the rocks would tell a story. So, so cheap river rock was someone who I used to talk to about with my wife and family, and my father told me about them. And so it became my son's middle name. Then when I launched the film studio, in remembering cheap river rock, it really dawned on me that, that that was one of the oldest forms of storytelling in you know, North America is is, you know, tooth rock and his ability the way he told stories, so we thought it was a fitting title for the studio. And so yeah, so that's what we do. We tell story, you know, visuals, story. And I'm,

Terence Shigg: 6:14

yeah, I'm just pleased as punch just to be talking to you on this platform. So it's cool for me, so I'm trying to sound stuff. I don't sound professional. That's why cuz I'm just, I'm just jazzed to be on the phone with

Paul Bunch: 6:26

this. Yeah, this is this is it's hard to even pretend with you, because we go way, way back. Yes. And it was so I mean, to like, literally, when you were what, I think I met you when you were 11 12 years old, something like that, right?

Terence Shigg: 6:39

Yes. younger than that, probably. And I always think I'm like, you know, you have known me longer than anyone that is not blood related to me.

Paul Bunch: 6:50

Right? reminds me, you gotta make sure I find time to tell the story of when I beat you one on one in basketball. You might have been 12 years old

Terence Shigg: 7:05

at the time. And they were like, seven foot hoops.

Paul Bunch: 7:13

It doesn't matter if I tell the story how I once to be a Kentucky basketball player. I don't care that the fact that you were 12 years old, I like to begin.

Terence Shigg: 7:33

And then I like to go into how this came about. Because what we I mean, we try to talk regular, but we don't always get around to it. But we stay in touch. And when you told me about how you came up with this particular story in this particular time, I was like, I gotta figure out a way to talk about that, because I don't think we talk about it enough. And that story is really how COVID is not just affecting society, but affecting our children in particular. And yeah, man, and how you kind of took up and upon took it upon yourself to go, you know what, I need to tell that story because I don't think people are realizing the impact that he's having.

Paul Bunch: 8:23

Yeah, so I'll, it's actually pretty personal. So I'll try to not embarrass myself and cry on camera here. But uh, we, it was a about a year ago. Almost a year. It was February 13 2020. When my son turned 16 years old. It was his birthday on February 13. Last year, and I took him to Disneyland. Right. And while he was at Disneyland with a couple of his friends, they got off one of these rides, and they I was just telling you, they started high five, and they celebrate. And I was like, Hey, what happened? And one of his friends jack was like, dude, we he says this is the way he said he was like, we got a girlfriend. Meaning because my son Ryan has just gotten a text from a girl saying she would be his girlfriend. Right? But it was so he Ryan was the first one in their group to get a girlfriend. So the group was celebrating that like someone in their group got a girlfriend. Right? And so it was a funny moment. They were like jumping around and high fiving and right. So I remember hugging myself like this Well done. You got a girlfriend. And he was like, yeah, and so then I drove him to school that Monday morning, and we found out school was closed that Monday but the following that that his birthday, we went to go Monday and the schools had all sat down. And to date he has never seen this girl. You've never seen her again. Because the world shut down. Right? And so things progressed in 2020, as we all know, that we all went through things that, you know, seemingly got worse and worse. And we look, we all have tried to keep it together, we, I think a lot of us have helped to try and lift each other up and, and, and be safe. And we're all cognizant of this weird, odd, horrifying situation we're going through so many, so many levels being lost. So many people's lives being changed forever, right. And I have watched my son lose everything. Like his the band that he was in, went away, never got to meet his girlfriend, all the social, like, hit all of his entire network and structure of his life went away. And it just, it all kind of came to a head. And around August of last year, well, no, September of last year when one of his band members attempted suicide. Right. And thankfully, the young man made it, but it was a wake up call to all of us parents like what, what's happening, you know what I mean? Like, we're pretending things are okay. And they're not. And that that was made very clear, when I remember hugging my son and sitting next to him, you know, what we parents often do is we're, we constantly try and lift our kids up and tell them it's gonna be okay. But this time, my son looked me in the eye and said, No, Dad, it's not okay. And a chill with down my spine. It was like, so I was like, what, what are we going to do here? Like we need to, we need to do something like it was one of those moments where you just, you had to stop pretending that you were in control, and start thinking about being honest and communicating in a different way. And then my, one of our, one of our really talented gurus over at river rock is this gentleman. He's the production designer, writer, director himself. His name is Albert sartorial. I remember telling the story at lunch. And he was like, Paul, he was like, you're an artist. He goes, if you look back in history, during all the major crises of throughout history, whether it was, you know, he was you see the results of that crisis, or that dilemma in the art, like, the example he gave was like, during the robotic plague. And in Europe, if you look at the paintings of that time, you can see the depth in the artwork, right? In other words, artists are the one who clocked that that crisis who clocked that disaster and they, they capture it forever in their art. And so I remember him telling me like, Paul, we're not artists, unless we, we do something that tells the story. And so I remember sitting with my son saying, Look, man, are you okay? If I do something? And he was like, his words were you have to, and I was like, done. I was like, that's it. And so I just became, like, it just became something I just poured myself into, as of November of last year, I started to I interviewed and started, I felt like I had to, because it's not my story. You know what I mean? Like, this is one of those unique times where I couldn't, I couldn't just sit down and write some cool stuff. I couldn't just be creative. Because it's not, it's not my story. I have to sit my ego and all whatever talent I think I have, I have to decide and, and get the story from the people who are experiencing it in the way that teenagers were like, We all are experiencing it in a deep and sincere way. All of us adults are dealing with it. But we, we think adults are equipped to deal with things like this in a in a better way than teenagers. Teenagers. I remember the movie on John's use as a famous line in the in the movie Breakfast Club, where he says, oftentimes when adults grow up, their heart dies. And it's a heavy line. But in some ways for me what it means is we forget the beautiful, useful nature of what it means to be a teenager and what and and like for us you lock us down and and it means we do more work or it means we you know we find things to do that adults do you know we sip our coffee and tell stories. Teenagers are not wired for that kind of credit like they are social in need of their social networks. You know, they're when you're 16 there are things that parents don't know about the only thing that kids The only person that teenager can share is another teenage you know, parents don't understand that there's a whole world of teenage stuff that you don't know, you know, and they only share with their peers. Because it's their time to slowly become independent. It's their time to branch out and do things that bill almost adults. And it's their, it's their network that experiences that taking away social friends and stuff like that from a teenager is like taking away their oxygen is what I learned. Yes, they can't survive with that social network. Right? We adults, don't, we forgot that. And there's a lot of attention being paid to seniors, obviously, seniors are affected by COVID in different ways. It's important to take care of our seniors, there's a lot of trillions of dollars being spent saving businesses, that's important to people got to pay bills in business. What we need to give a voice to teenage suffering, because it's not being this what I see my teen 16 year old going through, no, no one understands unless you have unless you're in the house as a teenager. And and some of the teenagers I spoke to and I interviewed, the things I heard were just horrifying. You know, it's just brutal. So we, we just decided with no money with those that we just had to go make this stuff. And in on just strength and, and faith. We're just pushing forward with it.

Terence Shigg: 16:32

And that's the thing that I I mean, I really, I love the whole process of how, like you said art parallels history. And, and tells the story of history, you can see it in the art. And I think this is an important story, because like you said, I don't think as adults, we, I don't think it's purposeful. I just think it's really something that we don't even it's just not on our radar, unless something like this, or something like this, that you're creating, puts it on our radar. And that's why I think this is important because as I because I experienced that, it it, it touched me because working with kids during counseling, that was something that was kind of coming up that I was like, I don't know, if we're really paying attention, because a lot of the the ways that I don't even know if the right word is suffering, but the ways that our teenagers are dealing with this is totally different than the ways adults would deal with this. Meaning like you said, we can stay busy and we can, you know, drive to drive down the road and meditate or whatever we do as adults, but our kids really had their own system set up. And it was really independent of us. And that's why we that's kind of how we teach them. We want them to be independent of us. But what happens when you take that away, and you don't replace it with anything? Now you just haven't right boy that and there's no you know, it sounds depressing, but there's no timetable to say, Okay, if we can just get through this six months, your next school year, you know, it'll be back to, quote unquote, normal. I mean, so like you said, it really tugs at my heart when you said, because as parents, we want to tell them, it's going to be okay. You know, don't Yeah, we'll take care of it. You know, it'll be alright. And we know that but like you said, In that moment, that's not what they need to hear. That's not what what they're asking, though.

Paul Bunch: 18:41

Well, it's, it's, it's kind of like, give me my life back. Mm hmm. You know what I mean? That's the mood of the teenagers This is like, like, these teenagers were like, this is wrong. You know, like, the thing I heard is, I'm never going to get this year back. Like, being 16 is a quintessential moment in your life that it's filled with first. It's filled with first kisses first, you know, dates first driving first, you know, that your your prom, your your Kingston yetta. Yeah, it's filled with firsts. And when you steal that it's gone forever.

Terence Shigg: 19:21

So almost like a rite of passage that has been cut off. Totally. And there's got to be there has to be a not just the grieving process, but a, a way of processing that so that they can move forward with the recognition that that was lost. It's not like we can say, Oh, yeah, you'll forget about that.

Paul Bunch: 19:46

No, that's it's gone. Yeah. And look, I want to be really careful here because I know that there's that that I am. I am focused. thing on this teenage crisis because I have a 16 year old that I love more than anything else in life. And I mean, yeah, so that's I'm focusing on that there. There are many other sides to this crisis. Yes. And I'm not, I'm certainly not making light of the suffering that others are going through. I'm not I'm not trying to bring that to a point and say, it's not as important. It's not about, it's not about saying, hey, they're more important that all I'm saying is, we don't understand how wrong this is. We don't we think teenagers can just act like adults. And just hunker down for a year doesn't work that way. does not work that way. And I've seen it firsthand. And we like you, if you have a teenager, you better sit with them. And and kind of get a temperature check on what they're really going through. If you haven't yet already. Right.

Terence Shigg: 20:57

I think that's very important to say,

Paul Bunch: 21:00

Oh, my God, dude, like these, one of the teenagers I talked to was a young lady. I asked her what's the biggest problem and she said, my mom stopped hugging me. And I remember calling her mother going, you should sit down with your daughter and have her tell you what she's telling me. Because she didn't know anything she didn't. She thought everything was fine. It's not okay. Those are the three words that hit me in the face over and over and over every time I talk to a teenager, it's not okay. And so, so that's, and I made the mistake, Terry, of posting the attempted suicide online, just as a way of trying and because of that, I got an overwhelming response. But the end result is something kind of heavy. I wake up every morning now. Every single morning, Terry, I have people sending me suicide, messages about another suicide. Because I started that. And so I'm linked into this group of people who keep sharing again, I wake up every morning with another post about a teenage teenager who killed themselves because they didn't want to go on anymore. They just didn't. They felt like everything had been lost. Yeah. And so it's brutal, dude. It's like, I'm Anna. And we, here's, here's the other secret man and and what you and I and a lot of adults, we, we carry baggage well. Adults build, we build a mechanism for pretending. Right? And when I did a read through of the scripts with production crew, but there's about 15 people. And these adults were sobbing during the read through the screenplay. And what, including me, by the way, I'm and I'm a jaded old. You know, I'm a jaded old. But look it what happens is we we keep telling ourselves, we're strong. What's something about hearing a teenager, even if it's just on a page of a script, hearing the themes where someone else is telling the truth about what they're feeling? And, and then the scenes that they begin to cry? Somehow, when it comes to us, we're gonna go on fine. But the connection to this scene, everybody in the room started letting some stuff go. Yeah. And I feel like, that's what's so important about this project.

Terence Shigg: 23:31

Yes, that's the that's the the healing best part of the healing process is that connection? Is that recognition of truth of being able to see something and go? Yeah, that's it. You put your finger, you put your finger on it, I may not be able to, to say it. But you said it for me. And I think that is, that's an amazing thing. And I think that's what's so powerful about this project is you are speaking for a group of people that I wouldn't say we're not listening to, but we're not paying attention to. Right, and I really believe that this project will get that voice out there. And one of the things I really wanted to say is, I know it's not and I think it's important to to make that realization that it's not okay. And instead of trying to give our teenagers a pep talk, that we walk with them, instead of trying to take them somewhere, meaning you're right, it's not okay, this sucks. But I'm, I'm here in the middle with you. That's that's what I can promise you. I can promise you that.

Paul Bunch: 24:44

I'm going to be here with you. And that's that's where you start. That's your person and that you're hurting to. Yeah, like, like a couple of the teenagers that I spoke to that were annoyed that, like one of the young men was like They have the his parents has these zoom parties, and he was like, it's annoying to him, you know, to see party going on and like his life is just gone. Right? Even if it's a pretend zoom party, it was annoying to this young man that parents were engaging in that. And I think i think i think what you have to do is let him know you're hurting, too. You know, you know, you're hurting too. It's a shared experience. Everybody. Shared burden.

Terence Shigg: 25:30

Yeah. And I didn't know I was gonna say, and this is something that we can I Oh, the phrase always comes to mind as you can chew gum and walk to. So it's not Yeah, it's not this all or nothing type of mentality that we we hear all the time. It's okay. This is where we are. How do we do this? How do we still connect? because like you said, just sitting down with your teenager is so valuable to be able to, to share that experience and go, you're right. It's not okay. It sucks. And I'm here with you. I agree. It sucks. And yeah, and that just opens up a whole nother avenue for them to be able to express instead of having to put on that face of Yeah, I know it's going to be okay. Back up, rub some dirt on it all that other crap. Yeah, tell them this isn't time to

Paul Bunch: 26:25

be on that is beyond a you know, you skinned your knee, you get up and take it off. Dude, this is brutal. This is worldwide. This is life, or death. This is existential, this is whatever words you want to use. It's not okay, this is very unusual. And there's a lot of baggage associated with this. And I think, and I don't mean to sound self important, I think if we can get this project out in front of teenagers, and they can hear other teenagers in this movie, share, and we're not making this movie to kind of make everyone stew in the misery. It's not about that the purpose of this project is to show it's the story of how you can overcome this misery by coming together and sharing experience and, and finding things that help you move to a positive place, though, find that because at the end of the day, this project is to tell everyone give your teenagers their life back, dip, find ways to give them their life back this last weekend. We called some parents are like, get your phone tested, get them over to my house this week, then a group of friends so up here at my house, and we had created a little bubble for them to share time together. Yes. And and you have to fight for that. You have to you know, we we can't keep putting ourselves first we got this, you know?

Terence Shigg: 27:59

And but no. And that's, that's when I say that we can chew gum and walk at the same time. Those types of creative solutions are are things that we should be focusing even more attention to, because that's how we that's how we help them get through this, which is okay, how can we do this in a safe way? Okay, everybody get tested come by, we'll have a friendship pod, if you want to call it a social pod Where? Okay, these groups, we've all been tested. We're the only ones that are hanging out with each other, then. Yep, give them that connection. Give them a piece of it back. Um, yeah, get through this. But yeah, and just the effort that you put into it shows them that you see him that you that you're listening, and that's invaluable of itself, because now they know I'm not crazy, because that's, that's the thought that process that we go through. Especially not even just teenagers. But as humans, the first thing we go through is okay, well, nobody else is thinking like this. I must be the only one I must be crazy. Until I reach out and you realize, wait a minute. There's a million other people that think this sucks too. I'm not the only one. Yeah.

Paul Bunch: 29:17

Yeah. Yeah.

Terence Shigg: 29:18

And I will do definitely will do holding light to that.

Paul Bunch: 29:23

Totally, totally. And I and I'm pushing a little further than some, some people will I think some people will take issue with the degree at which the statement is and that's okay. I know there are there are people will agree with this and disagree with it. But we this this, we believe that all schools need to reopen immediately, period. You know, that's what we believe we believe you need to stop, you know, stop with the nonsense. Stop it like like the CDC is telling us that this does not spread in schools, you know, and teenagers are not at risk. You know what I mean? They've been very Are you clear about that? And we, we keep we keep pretending that. I mean, if you look at nurses and you look at police officers, you look at firefighters, they put, they put the uniform on and they go to the front lines. And they they do their job no matter what they've never stopped doing their job. Teachers should be as brave as police officers, because it's that important. Yes, it's that important.

Terence Shigg: 30:26

And I, I keep going back to that, chewing bubble gum and walking, because I do think that there is a way to do that. And we already have the evidence, because there are schools, private institutions that are doing it already. Right. So we have the blueprint, it's not like you have to recreate the wheel. It's, it's out there. So yeah, it can be done.

Paul Bunch: 30:49

If you toggle and if you have some accuracy, teachers, keep them home. You know what I mean? If you have some teachers with additional health issues, we understand that those people are a risk. Nobody. Nobody wants to hurt the teachers. We need to stop hurting the teenagers. Like at some point, you have to set your your needs aside and put the kids first when when did we stop doing?

Terence Shigg: 31:12

Yes, no.

Paul Bunch: 31:13

When did we stop putting the kids first we think we gotta stop doing that.

Terence Shigg: 31:18

And it's funny, I laugh when you say that. Because when we when this thing first started, and they started saying, okay, wash your hands. My first question is, when do we stop washing our hands? But we need to start listening to to our kids. I definitely. Um, I also wanted to because you shared a little bit of the music over this. Can you tell me tell us tell them about this phenomenal musician that you found?

Paul Bunch: 31:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah. maleek maleek. Will caught and and Dave reichart and Albert's so these guys are just like gods. And you know, Terry, you and I grew up you've heard me saying I am not musical. I think I am tone deaf. And I am not at all. But as a writer, being in the room, scribbling lyrics and handing it to musicians, and then watching them just start creating music was a magical experience for all, you know, we all got tested, we all create our own little bubble when we got in there. And we all knew we were negative. And everybody was saying math came off. You know. And and, and you know, sometimes they call it the spirit call it a Holy Ghost, whatever you want to call it. We were all inspired. And and some really amazing music came from two weeks at at this music studio. And that was all donated to us. By the way, everybody, they're just came for the call. You know what I mean? Like I that's been my experience is like, we're calling people up saying, look, we got no money. All I got is a really important story to tell you. And the response has been Amen. Yeah. So yeah, man, two weeks of watching those musicians. You know, and you heard some of the music that's going to be in the film. It's a again, man, like, it just it was was was making people cry. You know, it was just, it's been a emotional roller coaster every step of the way. And, you know, the majority of the work is still ahead of us. But it's something we we love doing and something we look forward to getting into March one Principal photography begins March 1. Okay, and so we're casting, we're casting a lot of kids this week, some talented kids. And yeah, man looking looking forward to getting this and we you know, this is one of those projects, we're just giving it away. We're not, we're not, we're not doing a portion of the proceeds or anything like that. We're making this film and giving it to the world. Yeah, because, again, we honestly believe in the most sincere, humble way. If you show this to a lot of kids, it may save some lives.

Terence Shigg: 34:17

Oh, and I definitely believe it will save lives. I don't think there's a may about it. I think just I think you've already accomplished that, to a certain degree that you may not even realize of saving lives because you've given a voice to, to a group that if nothing else, now knows that somebody is acknowledging and recognizes what they're going through. It's not they're not doing this alone. And that's always the scary time is when we convince ourselves and not just teenagers, but as adults, when we convince ourselves that it's, it's just me, and nobody else will understand. And I have to just, you know, pretend like like I'm everybody like, I'm normal. quote unquote, and then you, you break that, the more you can break that falsehood and, and show people that it's not just you, all of us are going through this. And all of us are trying to figure it out. And you're not crazy. And no matter what, I'm going to be here right next to you, sometimes in front of you, because I'm your dad, and I'm going to protect you from whatever I can, but I'm going to walk along with you no matter what. That's what, that's what these that's what kids need, they really need that. And that is what helps in these types of situations. Awesome, brother. Awesome. The only I guess I was gonna ask you, is there and I don't know anything about the movie industry? Besides you? Is there a if you're, if someone is inclined to help support this type of project? Is there a way for them to do that?

Paul Bunch: 35:58

Oh, my God. Um, yeah, look, if anyone would like to reach out whether they want to sprint to actually share the film with a particular networking group, they can they can call river rock film. It? Can I share the number? Yes, yes, definitely. Yeah. Okay, at 323-459-4269. That's the river rock main line. And, or they can reach us at Paul, my email address is Paul bunch at river rock films.com. So if anyone who would like a free copy of the film or a link to the film, so they can share whether it's with church groups, or school groups, or networking groups, we're, as I said, we're just giving this away, we just, we're working. Our plan is to work with some of the influencers, some of the online influencers, like the high powers and kids like Addison Ray, and, okay, Molly is just people that, you know, these kids have 75 million people follow this one. So they post it and, and, and with any luck, a lot of kids will take the time to watch this man, that's, that's the hope.

Terence Shigg: 37:05

Okay. And all that information will be in the show notes if you didn't write it down, so they don't have to memorize it. And I can guarantee you and promise you that once this gets out that we will get a group of kids together and watch this and discuss this. And make sure that it's something and I know even by just talking to you, it's definitely put it on my radar. So that as I talk to and and visit with kids, it is something that is always present in my mind to just check in with them to just see and let them know that I know that sucks. And, yeah, if you need anything, this is where you, I'm here.

Paul Bunch: 37:45

And thank you so and get the house, let's get them out of the house, get find a way to give, give them access to their friends. You know what I mean? break the rules, if you have to, honestly, it's time, it's time to break the rule of I know, that's a controversial thing to say, I know there are still people dying. I know, I understand that, that there that we need to be careful. I know we need to take care of people that are sick. All of that is true. We also need break the rules, and get your teenagers a piece of advice that

Terence Shigg: 38:18

they need to know that they are just as important as a business just as important as toilet paper. I mean, they are they are indeed Yeah, they are very important. And they are I mean I just I love the the idea of the film. And I really think that this is this is just the beginning. I think this type of project that you're doing is going to be the focal point for that flood of creativity that's going to come out of this type of situation that will be part of that healing process because I really think that what you do is not only tells the story but it also connects people in a way that allows them to heal and that's my therapist at talking but it really is I mean it's just obvious to me

Paul Bunch: 39:13

Yeah, yeah. So yeah, man look forward to you know, giving you the final product very soon. And when we get when we get into the post, I want you to come You know, check it out.

Terence Shigg: 39:28

Oh, absolutely. I will be there. Okay, testa, mask glove whatever I need to do I'll be

Paul Bunch: 39:38

fair enough. Fair enough. I have

Terence Shigg: 39:42

anything else that you wanted to share or

Paul Bunch: 39:47

no man just like it growing myself through this process was like you know, watching watching the you know, everyone slowly come to terms With a how to piece your life back together, you know, just just day by day, finding ways to lift people up, you know, it's been a it's been like this, this process of writing and working on this film kind of forces you to re examine all the ways in which you talk and act during the day. Are you lifting people up? Are you? Are you, you know, causing misery? You know? So yeah, man, it's just, it's been a really amazing experience. And hopefully, all of this will be a distant memory. You know, it really is up to us. You know, we I hear people say, you know, at some point, they're going to give us our life back. Now, man, we have to take our life back. At some point, it's up to us. When when we decide to move forward and go, Oh, maybe I can, you know, live a little better now, you know? Yes. So, but it's complex, it's a very complex issue more than anything else. This project reminded me how there are very varying degrees of views on that there are varying degrees, and everyone's position is valid. But I'm telling one particular story, I'm gonna hit that going hard, and try and base awareness and maybe save some loss. So God bless everybody out there.

Terence Shigg: 41:20

All right. So we'll come to the conclusion of this episode. And I hope that it was informative, and I hope it gave you some things to think about. But most of all, I hope it spurs you to do something. And I want to do something myself. And I want to do something for the teenagers and the parents out there. So if you're a parent, and you have a teenager, and they are there with you, or at some later time, after you listen to this, please sit them down and, and not only talk to them, and if you need some help, in the words to say, then here's an example for you. Go ahead and get them in, sit them down and let them listen to to this, this two minutes that I would like to share with them. I would like to share this to all the teenagers out there that feel alone. To all the teenagers out there that deal is the though they are not being heard. I like to put this out there to all the the teenagers out there that are hurting right now. Because there are there are lots of them. So sit down for a second and just listen to my humble attempt to to help. Well, first thing I'd like to say to to all of you is whatever you're thinking, whatever you're mad at, whatever you are disappointed by. I'd like to say I'm sorry. I'm sorry for this last year, that has taken away a lot of the joy and activities and transitions that are traditionally yours. I'm sorry for this time in your life where you are learning to take control being taken away from you. And most of all, I'm sorry that no one said this before. That it's taken this long for someone to sit you down and say simply, I'm sorry. And I say that with a heavy heart. Because I know that there are some teenagers out there. This is probably too late for there's some teenagers out there that we've already lost. Because no one because they didn't hear these words soon enough I should say. They didn't hear the concern and the affirmation from those of us who are in charge in, I put air quotes around in charge. They heard us gripe and moan about the political situations and about how this person did that and how our freedoms are being endangered and challenged. But they didn't hear us speaking for them. And in some cases, they didn't hear us speaking to them. And for that, I'm sorry. And I make a commitment. And I hope that whoever sat you down to listen to this will make this commitment with me that from this day forward, your voice will be heard that I will make it a commitment on my part, that each day I let your voice be heard. Be that with local politicians be that with the powers that be or be that simply one on one, with the teenagers that I that I deal with, you will be heard. And you will be affirmed. And I will agree with you. In saying that it's not okay. It's not okay, this time that you've lost. And we can't get it back. But going forward, we can insist that you will be heard, you can insist that we do everything that we can to make this time as best we can. And I don't know what that means right now. I don't know what that means for each individual teenager family out there. But I'm making the commitment to try making the commitment to try to reach out to the teenagers that are out there that feel alone. And let them know that it's not okay. It's not okay that you've been ignored, and that your situation has been steamrolled by the adult problems of the world. I like to say we can chew gum and walk at the same time or we can pat our head and rub our stomach at the same time. And I want every person, especially the teenagers within the sound of my voice to know that you are important. You are our future, you are the crown jewel of our society. And you should be treated as such. And so my commitment right here. And I pray that those that are with you, that puts you in front of this recording will make that commitment with me is that we are going to make every effort we are going to do everything within our power to make sure that you are heard that we understand as much as possible that this is not okay. And that we do everything that we can to get you back to where you feel as though you are back in control of your development of your growing of your independence of your learning. We've taken enough away from you. It's time for us to start fighting to give it back. I wanted to at least make this apology and put this in this episode. So that those of us out there that hear this and we know of a teenager that may appear to be doing just fine. I want you to know that they need to hear that you understand that it's not okay. What they've had to go through and that we are going to make it a priority to change that. As the adults we have a responsibility to them. We have a responsibility to let them know that they are that important that we're going to fight to give them back their freedom, their ability to develop their social networks, their friends, their times their experiences, we're gonna fight to get those things back for them. And we're not going to tell them what that is we're going to ask them how, and what do they need. We're gonna affirm that how they feel is real, that it's not okay, that we haven't listened to them. And we're gonna be there alongside of them, walking with them through this time. That's all I had to say. I just wanted to make sure that I put that in there was after listening to the episode again, it was on my heart and I wanted to make sure that there's something in here so that the parents, the friends, even the teenagers that may listen to this will know that we do understand and we are going to do better at making sure that it gets to the point where it's okay again. That's all for now. I look forward to the next episode. I hope that this one intrigued you. And if it did, please subscribe and share with your friends and family. And let them know about the podcast that'll be out every two weeks. And like I said, the new format will be I'll do a solo episode and then I'll do one with a guest. So I'll have two episodes a month one with the guests and one by myself. So once again, as I always end each episode with let's get to work. we have a new product, it is called oxy burn from crossguard cross guard sports supplements they also have vanilla protein, chocolate protein, a pre workout and a post workout three punch. actually burn is one of the first products that are available at mongoose water calm that's mongoose quarterback now so Oxy Burn is a weight loss supplement. 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Lyrics: 53:36

He came a long way I can do I can do all I can do all I can do. I'm not afraid of the moment. I'm not afraid I can't hold it. Gotta get up in the morning. I gotta tell ya. No, I'm just taking whatever controller so many opponents coming opponents. I gotta give it a fun. Not only