MTV is currently airing a show titled “If You Really Knew Me” (yes, I watch MTV reality shows). The show chronicles what happens on Challenge Day, a day when a team of speakers comes to a high school campus in an effort to break down the walls between cliques and inspire the student body to come together to create change at their schools, uniting the student body. There are tons of tears as they go through the program to discover that, at the end of the day, Jocks go through many of the same things as the Emos and the Homecoming Queen isn’t too different from the Band Geek.
There is this one part of the program where everyone stands on one side of a line and one of the Challenge Day leaders announces a statement; if the statement applies to you, you cross the line. For example, you might be asked to cross the line if you have ever:
- been ridiculed for your weight
- lived in a household where alcoholism was a problem
- been kicked out of your house
After you cross, you look around and see that you’re probably not alone for what obstacle(s) you have in your life. Or you might see that your friend might be going through hard times and you had no idea. Every show always includes a revelation or two about “I never knew so-and-so dealt with that!” The whole idea of the exercise is to open up the students’ eyes to see their classmates crossing the lines and understand that everyone might be hiding something.