Murray High homecoming queen Shellie Eyre is congratulated by other finalists after being crowned at an assembly in September 1997. Chuck Wing, Deseret News

I’m not a big fan of television and I definitely do not watch commercials. Well, I’ll take that back, if the commercial features a four-legged creature or some furry critter hopping around on two legs, I might watch it. Mostly, I will get up, leave the room, find something else to do, or just tune it out until the program I’m watching returns.

Having said that, I found myself recently tuned into a commercial. As usual, I was out of the room when it appeared and only heard the applause toward the end and the music. I wanted to know what it was because I did not hear anything about a product and I loved the music. When I reentered the room to see the commercial, it was gone and quite frankly, I never thought about it again until I heard the music again and this time I ran back into the room to catch a glimpse of it. I discovered it was a PSA on True Beauty featuring a girl with Down Syndrome who had just been crowned homecoming queen.

Since I typically leave a room when commercials are on, I committed to memory the sounds heard at the beginning of the commercial which is that of a live band. For a long while I played commercial tag, I heard the music but was not in a place where I could actually see the commercial or I had been outside and again, only saw the tail end of the commercial, or I was on the phone. Finally I got lucky. The commercial came on and I saw the words “A True Story” and was able to see the commercial from beginning to end. I had to know the true story.

The commercial is actually a PSA (Public Service Announcement) sponsored by The Foundation for a Better Life. In their About Us section they say simply “In this day and age, it can be hard to believe an organization’s only goal is to encourage others to do good—but that really is why we exist.” Their Mission Statement is:

The Foundation for a Better Life creates public service campaigns to communicate the values that make a difference in our communities – values such as honesty, caring, optimism, hard work, and helping others. These messages, communicated utilizing television, theatres, billboards, radio, internet, etc., model the benefits of a life lived by positive values. The Foundation encourages others to step up to a higher level and then to pass on those positive values they have learned. These seemingly small examples of individuals living values-based lives may not change the world, but collectively they will make a difference. And in the process help make the world a better place for everyone. After all, developing values and then passing them on to others is The Foundation for a Better Life.

I’ve never heard of this organization and trying to get info on this organization is like pulling hen’s teeth. I did find several articles by others asking the same question and one article tracked down ownership of the site by their NIC registration. I’ll let you read this one yourself to form your own opinion of what might be going on here. Unfortunately, having worked in a jaded industry for most of my life where I have been able to witness, first hand, man’s inhumanity to man, I have typically found that many good deeds are done by those with evil intentions. I call it their way of reducing karma or to use a trick of the Catholic Church many years ago, buy a ticket to purgatory.

Putting cynicism aside, temporarily, the ad itself is a beautiful one and a true story albeit, the names were changed to protect, I’m assuming, the actual people involved.

Shellie Eyre was crowned homecoming queen 12 years ago at Murray High School in Arizona. Eyre was born in 1979 with Down syndrome and suffered a stroke at age 3 that left her paralyzed on her left side.

When Eyre became a finalist, her parents counseled her to be a good sport in case she didn’t win. Though mom prepared her daughter for losing, the then 17-year old senior kept faith alive believing her father who told her she was a princess. She knew princesses become queens.

Chosen overwhelmingly by her high school peers, Eyre was crowned homecoming queen. A fact overlooked or missing from the PSA is Eyre’s First attendant was April Perschon, a girl who had physical and mental disabilities resulting from a brain hemorrhage suffered when she was 10 years old. Upon April’s introduction by student body officers, April too was urged to center court of the gym with a standing ovation.

Now, bringing cynicism back to center court, I’ve read other articles or posts on the web which tells the tale of high school jocks, football players mostly, who started the campaign to nominate Eyre and Perschon as a joke. Their bad intentions, thankfully, turned into something good as other students thought nominating them was a good idea and their good intentions is what makes this story so powerful — out of ugly came something good.

Ted Eyre, Shellie’s father, wrote a book about his daughter titled, “You Always Call Me Princess.” Ted Eyre said of his daughter “Shellie loves everyone equally.”  In fact, Shellie was “one of the most popular girls in school because of her easy smile and loving heart.” Her father said of the evening that he “was overwhelmed by the moment” and the mother of another homecoming candidate put it all into focus for him by approaching him and saying there were no losers at that rare homecoming — everyone won.

Shellie Eyre, left, and Becca Winegar, who portrays her in a public service ad, meet in Sandy. (Tom Smart, Deseret News)

Becca Winegar portrays Eyre in the public service ad and her account of the filming is pretty funny:

“It was a 12-hour filming day,” she recalled. “The lights were so hot I got absolutely sick.” Winegar said the makers of the ad were looking to replace her because of that and when she realized it, she got up and said, “Ain’t no way you’re going to replace me!”

Winegar said it was a “very remarkable experience” to film the PSA. She also stressed “true beauty is to be yourself. It’s from inside of you.”

Agreed and that’s what made this commercial or PSA so important, true beauty is simply be yourself. I loved it and I also love the Backstreet Boys song accompanying the PSA. The song is “What Makes You Different (Makes You Beautiful)”. If only we could all remember these words and act on them. We are all unique, beautiful, and gifted and it matters not if you have one leg, four fingers, living with cancer, a burn victim or a beautiful young woman with Down syndrome with a big heart.

I don’t claim to know who or what is behind this ad or the organization but I will say I’m glad they brought me the story of Shellie Eyre, it was not only true beauty, it was truly inspiring.  And yes, princesses do become queens.

Links:

Desert News: Princess is a queen

The Foundation for a Better Life — http://www.values.com/

The Church of Latter Day Saints: Deafening cheers, applause given to high school royalty

Video: The Foundation For A Better Life Homecoming Commercial

Armed with a video camera, Mark Horvath takes to the streets making those who are invisible visible.  In the About section of his blog, he tells how he came to doing this project.  If you scroll down the last video on that page you will learn Mark’s story of drug addition and homelessness.

Mark developed InvisiblePeople.tv to tell the stories of the homeless and his videos are raw, personal and thankfully humanizing.  I visit the site often and he has opened my eyes to much and he has shattered some stereotypes I previously had.

I once heard a story about a homeless man on Hollywood Blvd who really thought he was invisible. But one day a kid handed the man a Christian pamphlet. The homeless guy was shocked and amazed, “what! You can see me? How can you see me? I’m invisible!”

It isn’t hard to comprehend this man’s slow spiral into invisibility. Once on the street, people started to walk past him, ignoring him as if he didn’t exist… much like they do a piece of trash on the sidewalk. It’s not that people are bad, but if we make eye contact, or engage in conversation, then we have to admit they exist and that we might have a basic human need to care. But it’s so much easier to simply close our eyes and shield our hearts to their existence.

His reasons for creating the vlog are to “make the invisible visible” and he hopes that by our viewing the stories of those who are homeless, they will connect and resonate with us.  He says “I hope their conversations with me will start a conversation in your circle of friends.”

As an aside, Mark was featured earlier this year in a Mashable article entitled 5 People Who Broke the Rules of Social Media and Succeeded.  The article mentions how Mark got many of the homeless social agencies online with Twitter.  Unfortunately, the article mentions Mark was laid off from one agency and was warned “by homeless service agencies and government officials that there are legal consequences to what he’s doing and he should simply stop.” Though he was warned numerous times to “be careful, people are watching,” he has continued on.  For Mark, it is more about getting people off the streets, not who has the best marketing plan.  What a guy.

If you are not one to avert your eyes then check out Mark’s site at InvisiblePeople.tv. The following is one that was most compelling for me.  It’s a story about Janine, a woman living in a tent city in Sacramento.  The following is a piece from her story:

When I met Janine one month ago, she was living in one of Sacramento’s now infamous tent cities. She works as a gardener, but does not earn enough income to afford or sustain permanent housing. She says she cannot stay in area homeless shelters because there are not enough beds to meet the demand. Janine has been closely involved in the debacle surrounding Sacramento’s tent city. She even spoke about the issue to city council.

Janine works but does not make enough money for an apartment.  At the end of this video Janine tells us her three wishes.

Janine from InvisiblePeople.tv on Vimeo.