Our students' responses to Mr. Mark Ruffalo...

Message from YiHeng;

Dear Mr. Ruffalo,

Thank you so much for taking time to send me this very special message. I will listen to your advice to make myself better. 

Message from Carlos;

Dear Mr. Ruffalo,

Thank you for your message. It means a lot because it made me think about my future and life. There are also some people around me to tell me that I can’t do things. Because of your message if I want to make things, I will make it happen.

Message from Sergio;

Dear Mr. Ruffalo,

Thank you very much for your message. I’m really pleased that you have bothered to write such a lovely letter to us. It has made me think about my future and what I want to do when I grow up. From now on, I’ll follow my heart to make my decisions.

Yours sincerely,

Sergio

Message from Bachi;

Dear Mr. Ruffalo,

Thank you very much for your message. I think it is true that we need to follow our heart and follow what we want to do.

Message from Piruntha;

Dear Mr. Ruffalo,

Thank you very much for your lovely letter and your advice. I will follow what you said. I appreciate when you are caring and think about us personally.

Message from Marian;

Dear Mr. Ruffalo,

Thank you very much for writing us this lovely message and for giving us advice.

Message from Michelle;

Dear Mr. Ruffalo,

Thank you so much for your adorable message for us. I’m really flattered that you had time for us to give such a lovely message in between your very busy schedule. We appreciate it. It gives a meaning to us young students. We’ll keep supporting you.

Yours sincerely,

Michelle

Message from Aisha;

Dear Mr. Ruffalo,

I would really like to thank you for taking time, even though you are very busy, to write a letter to us.

Your message really touched me. It was helpful, especially the quote.It is normal to feel that the world is against me and have hard times, but it will not continue like this forever.

I would also like to tell you that I love your acting and the small things you do, makes you even nicer to my eyes.

Thank you Sir!

Yours sincerely,

Aisha 

Message from Brindha;

Dear Mr. Ruffalo,

I would like to thank you for your nice message that you took time to write. This message is so rich and emotional. You are really good to write these nice things to teenagers you’ve never met. I’m sure you care about us.

I’m going to follow your instructions and I appreciate what you said in your letter.

Thank you so much!

Brindha

  

Mr. Mark Ruffalo's words of wisdom for our students...

Life seems impossible sometimes when you are young. The world seems so vast and challenging and it’s hard to imagine how one can find the way. I was always deathly afraid that I would be homeless. I was so frightened that I would not find a calling, a respectable profession or a way of making a living. These fears tormented me when I was young. Secretly, I wanted to act, perform or create somehow but that seemed silly and everyone around me told me so. I was a mediocre student. 

The fact is; we can only do as much as our gifts and capabilities. Being a mediocre student does not bar you from doing great things in the future, so don’t get too hung up on that. Certainly don’t let it be the deciding factor on what you will become, just realise that it is only one part of successful life. There is much that is out of your control. The one thing we have in control is the direction we set for ourselves and how we approach difficulties. Your life will end where you point it. 

If you point your life toward destructive behaviour, I can assure you will end in a destroyed life. Addiction, early pregnancy and violence are the fruits of destructive behaviour. 

There was a quote I heard when I was young that meant so much to me. It was said by a great man named Joseph Campbell. He dropped out of college and moved to a cabin in the woods and did what he loved to do more than anything. Read… He spent a decade reading all the books that interested him: mythology, religion, poetry, philosophy, fiction and anthropology. After a decade of reading, he came out of his cabin and became one of our greatest thinkers and teachers. He used all his knowledge and came up with whole new way of looking at the world called ‘Comparative Mythology’.  He inspired movies and teachers and story tellers as well as the culture of the world. He did this vast amount of study on his own simply by following his curiosity and interests. Much of his work centred on the ‘Hero’s Journey’. He had one key thing he would repeat again and again. That one thing was music to my ears and remains that way to me even today. He said to me and anyone who had the spark of their heart’s joy still intact and to those who had lost and longed for their heart’s joy: “Follow your Bliss!”

That’s what I would say to my teenage self if I came upon that squirrelly, insecure kid covered with pimples and half-caved in on himself. I would say “Even though so little of how you feel or what the world seems to be saying to you at this point gives you confidence in yourself or the future, within you, within the depths of you, lies everything you need to sustain an authentic and well lived life.  There will be difficulty no matter what. There will be pain, sadness and loss but if you follow the part of you that quietly leads you to your joy; if you can drown out the unceasing noise of what people think you “should” be doing, and sometimes that includes your parents, teachers, even people you trust and admire; follow your curiosity, your interests and what makes you feel alive and joy, then you will always be safe. You’ll be shielded from much of the stifling grief that the world has to offer. You will become a master of that thing that gives you joy. In the end dear one, it is not about money, nor fame, nor popularity and not even love for that matter; all those things are secondary and will naturally bloom out of following the golden thread your soul has laid for you.

Follow that which presents you a challenge, hold on to it and follow it onto the treasure that lies at the end of that thread. That is who you ultimately are and what you are ultimately meant to do.”     

So, ‘Follow Your Bliss’ young people!

Mark Ruffalo