Hard As Nails- Empowering One Another

Hard as Nails- Empowering One Another

How many of us attend school everyday, possibly go to a job afterwards, or even attend an after school program? I know I do and many of my peers and friends do as well. Now, how many times in each of those events is someone ridiculed, ostracized, or mocked? I bet more times than we have fingers on one hand.
I recently saw a documentary by David Holbrook appropriately entitled Hard as Nails. This filmed showed the transformation of a young boy who hurt others and himself physically and emotionally, to a man helping others find god and find themselves.
Justin Fatica is a 27 year old, with a wife, baby and successful ministry called Hard as Nails. His organization travels around the country spreading the word of god and helping young adults build a relationship with God. Faticas unconventional style has awarded his banning of preaching in all catholic churches in Vermont, but he lives by the wise words of his elders: “you can either impact the world or make it worst”. As a delinquent adolescent who changed for the better, Fatica chose to “impact the world”. Now he impacts the world in the best way he knows how.
Faticas preaching style may intimidate some people but even watching on television I felt every single word as he hollered his message.
Justins wife, Mary, speaks at one of his conventions. Although the message she delivers is directed to young women, it applies to each and every one of us. She says “you can either empower or you can tempt”. In our society today women are portrayed as objects that are only useful to tempt, but as brothers and sisters we all need to empower one another in order to succeed.
In another segment of the documentary a young woman who is a staff member of Hard as Nails is pointed out of the crowd in Bishop Ludden High school by Justin Fatica. “Naturally” he says “what is the first thing that comes to your mind when you look at her?” he takes a breath and with that he begins yelling “she’s FAT!”. The young woman (Kathleen Sciame) cries as he continuously stabs her with the word “fat”. Finally, emotional he, Fatica then embraces her. “This is what we need to do” he explains in between sobs “we don’t need to look at her and make fun of her because she’s fat. We need to look at her- look at her heart!”
This part of the documentary really touched me. This demonstrated perfectly how our society reacts to people who are not <>. But I strongly agree with Justin Fatica. We must embrace people who are different and learn from each other. Empowering each other and we will be able to have more fun, friends, and happiness in life. We each are so special and when we isolate or ridicule one another it’s not only detrimental to our own destiny and fate, but it scars our fellow brother/sister. So I challenge every student, get to know your fellow classmates because we are all truly great people with life experiences different and alike to one another.
If you are interested in learning more about the Hard as Nails organization you can visit: HardKnocklifeforChrist.com
Don’t let the physical get between you meeting some really amazing people.