Truro & Mid Cornwall
by West Brton Reporter, Rachael Foster
The Scary Guy visits Orwell High - and they love him!.
Felixstowe TV; June 21st, 2006
Meet The Scary Guy ... his face may live up to his name but he's a nice chap, really. He's on a mission to create world peace - and this week he's been spreading the word in Cornwall. The Scary Guy - his official title- is an American who preaches awareness, understanding, acceptance and love. He is travelling the world urging people to see each other differently. He's been staying with friends in Gerrans on the Roseland Penisula.
" It's a very special place, " said Scary.
" It's unique. I come here to rest. "
West Briton reporter Rachael Foster caught up with Scary
A scary guy who's not so scary afterall.
This is The Scary Guy. With 80 percent of his body covered in tatoos and peircings, this man is on a lone mission to create world peace.
A daunting task for some but not for Scary, who has taught millions of people all over the world his lessons of awareness, understanding, acceptance and love.
He has worked with governments, religious groups, police forces, armed forces and schools, and has appeared on television and radio and in newspapers all over the globe.
This week, he has been in Cornwall and featured on BBC Radio Cornwall's David White Show, encouraging people to take up his seven day challenge - to not make a negative comment about another human being for a week.
"It's not about being perfect," said Scary, aged 51. "If you slip up, then you look them in the eye and apologise. I don't care if you have to apologise 25 times in one day.
"You will make a mistake, probably many - I'm still looking for the perfect human being."
The Scary Guy, which is his official title, began his mission to ban violence, prejudice and violence in the world in 1998 when he saw a full-page advert in his local newspaper in Arizona.
It read: "Are you tired of dealing with scary guys with war paint facial tattoos?"
Scary said: "I thought to myself, what am I going to do to get him back?
"I told my wife I was going to travel the world to help people see each other differently - from the inside out."
Scary has this week been staying with friends in Gerrans on the Roseland Peninsula, which he says is a unique place where people already understand his message.
He said :"This is a very special place. All the people who live in this village are very special people. They know exactly who I am and what I stand for. They create world peace in this little village.
"They love people in spite of their behaviour, they help people everyday.
It's unique - I come here to rest."
PHOTOS BY: MARY ALICE POLLARD
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Is this the new face of love?
THE NORTHERN ECHO JUNE 21, 2005
First published on Tuesday 21 June 2005:
Does this man look like someone you'd want mentoring your child? Perhaps not, yet as part of his mission to rid the world of hatred, he's helped hundreds of troubled teens. Sarah Foster meets the man who calls himself The Scary Guy.
THE teenage boy is slumped in a chair, eyes downcast, as he formulates an answer. The man to his right, a human canvass of tattoos, has just asked him to name his greatest wish. He looks up and, oblivious to the journalist and the TV men, engages the man with a frank gaze. "I want my family back," he says.
There's a collective intake of breath and an awkward silence settles in the cramped room. I don't know about the TV men, but I'm close to tears. Without flickering, the boy's interviewer carries on: "So what's your second wish?"
The TV men - two German documentary makers - and I have just sat through about an hour of this. We've heard that the teenager is one of five children, all to different fathers, and that his mother beats him up. We know that at the age of about ten, he started drinking and smoking drugs. And we know that three months ago, he tried to commit suicide by taking an overdose of paracetamol. Yet throughout these painful disclosures, it was as if we weren't there. The boy completely ignored us as he poured his heart out to his counsellor.
When I asked to interview this man, officially known as The Scary Guy, this wasn't quite what I had in mind, but seeing him in action gives me a fascinating insight. He treats the teenager firmly but with respect, using diagrams and simple language to deliver complex psychology. His tone is jokey and relaxed, and he manages to engage the boy without patronising him. He says things like: "I think you're pretty hip, dude" and somehow gets away with it. He signs off sessions at Scarborough's Pindar High School, with: "I love you. Keep up the good work."
The Scary Guy - or Scary, as he likes to be called - has made quite an impact on the school since he first visited last year. Brought in to address behavioural issues, he achieved instant results, drastically reducing signs of aggression among pupils. The headteacher, Hugh Bellamy, was so impressed that with sponsorship from the local Pindar Corporation, he signed Scary up to a three-year contract. Now a familiar face in the school's corridors, he's clearly built up a rapport with its troubled teens.
Just as we're about to chat, a pupil wanders in. He shyly hands Scary a letter and with faltering speech, asks him to read it. Giving him an affectionate hug, his mentor duly complies. The letter is about the boy's forthcoming holiday and before he leaves, he extracts the promise of a reply. When he's safely out of earshot, Scary's agent, Gary Lee, fills me in - did the youngster seem nervous? Before meeting Scary, he never spoke a word.
Although he's unremittingly Scary now, the man sitting beside me started life as plain Earl Kaufmann, an ordinary guy from Tucson, Arizona. His childhood was conventional, except in one respect - he couldn't read. He recalls this as a source of frustration. "I remember my mom locking me in my bedroom, telling me, 'You've got to read.' I couldn't read and I didn't know how to tell her. I think there was always this tension in my life," he says.
Perhaps as a reaction to this, Scary, who's 51, became a tattoo artist, adorning his entire body with aggressive looking art and piercings. His look became so extreme that a rival businessman took out an advert in the local paper saying: "Are you tired of dealing with scary guys with war paint tattoos?" Although he never fully explains it, this triggered a seismic change, prompting Scary to adopt the intended slight as a badge of honour - and to completely subvert its inference.
Looking back at who he was before, he sees himself as misguided. "Back then, anything could make me anything because I thought I was in control. The lie is that you think you are. Now I accept full responsibility for all my actions and all my words. I walk in that space every day and it's the most clean, comfortable environment I've ever existed in," he says.
This is a theme he develops in shows, when he encourages audiences to look within themselves to find contentment. "In order to make change or transition in your own life you've got to understand that I can't change anybody. All I can do is open doors and when I open the door to awareness, it's not so pretty," says Scary.
By making people confront their true natures, he hopes to inspire more loving behaviour. One of his methods is the so-called Seven Day Challenge. "For seven days and seven nights don't say one negative word about anyone on the planet and don't call anyone a name other than their own," he explains.
While it may be easy to scoff, a surprisingly diverse range of people is taking heed of Scary's teachings. He's not religious, yet has had holy men of all persuasions wanting to adopt him as their proponent. Despite being completely untrained, he's also been asked for help by social services, psychologists and psychiatrists. Last year, he was called into Birbeck Secondary School in North Somercotes, Lincolnshire, to deal with the aftermath of a fatal stabbing, and he'll soon help survivors of a shooting spree at a school in Minnesota.
He claims he can engage with people's emotions in a way that surpasses understanding. "I do not have the definitive answer to how and why this works. I have ideas, but the truth is, it's totally irrelevant. What matters is, it works," says Scary.
I must admit that whatever talent he might have, he certainly has charisma - and is genuinely intimidating. This has nothing to do with his hard-man looks but stems entirely from his demeanour. I find myself squirming in my seat when he fixes me with his steely gaze and says: "I'm absolutely a black belt when it comes to people. I find that in some ways, people sense that and it's very intimidating and scary. The truth is that I can see right through you. I can read you and I can tell you about you in a split second." I'm highly relieved when he doesn't.
Scary's presence in the Scarborough school is part of a much larger project. He explains: "Scarborough, the Pindar Corporation and Pindar School have signed a three-year contract with me to work with all the children in all of Scarborough and the mission is to empower children to teach people how to teach love. Let's make an impact on the whole city of 45,000. That's what I believe - in fact, I know it can be done. If you go and talk to a bunch of adults about that they don't believe it, but when you talk to kids they say, 'What do I have to do?'."
But Scary's ambitions don't end there. To suggest he's aiming for world domination would be a pretty fair assessment. "My mission has always been the total elimination of hate, violence and prejudice worldwide. It's never been anything less than that," he says simply.
Until he succeeds, he'll continue wandering the globe, spreading his message of boundless love to whoever will listen. And at least for the time being, it seems the man once dubbed the messiah has a captive audience.
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Scary Guy
Raising standards in local schools
Pindar announced on 6th June 2005 that it is to fund a unique educational initiative aimed at improving performance and behaviour amongst children both in and out of school in Scarborough. The initiative is centred on the recruitment of 'Scary Guy', an innovative motivational speaker who has pioneered the teaching of emotional intelligence.
Scary Guy is a unique character with a unique look he is tattooed and pierced all over his body and in particular his face. It is through the use of his aggressive appearance that he is able to engage with the students and convey his message of 'eliminating hate, violence and prejudice worldwide'.
Pindar was introduced to Scary Guy through Hugh Bellamy, Headteacher of Pindar School, who had heard about his work and felt that he could have a positive impact in his school. After only the first session Pindar School witnessed some real results. One student's life was totally transformed from being depressed, self harming and close to suicide they were so inspired by the teachings of Scary Guy that they later became an ambassador for the project, mentoring other students. The aim is that through this programme the number of Scarborough schools with serious social problems will decrease as well as the number of exclusions and the amount of crime it is an initiative that will have a positive impact throughout the community.
Through Pindar's support Scary Guy will be available to work with all secondary schools in Scarborough and the feeder primary schools. Schools who will benefit from the programme are: Pindar School, Raincliffe School, St Augustines, Graham School, Filey School and Scalby School. At each school, Scary Guy will undertake sessions with the aim of improving levels of behavioural and communication skills. Each of the schools will also be encouraged to develop a curriculum package which will help staff to reinforce the teachings of Scary Guy. Additionally Pindar will offer the support of personal mentors to the students helping them to understand and develop what they have been taught by Scary Guy. Part of the programme is also designed to educate parents so that they too can understand the teachings of Scary Guy.
Hugh Bellamy, Headteacher of Pindar School, commented:
"When I first heard of the idea of Scary Guy I was intrigued and interested, particularly as we felt we were in need of something or someone totally different to help alter the attitudes within the school. I have a firm belief that punishment and discipline alone is not enough we need to be altering the mindset of these students to evoke real change and make a long lasting difference for the future. When I took on the position here, the school was in urgent need of change, we had one of the worst behavioural records and one of the lowest performance records in the whole of the North Yorkshire region. Since Scary Guy has been visiting us we have already seen amazing results and noticeable changes. Without Pindar's funding we would not have been able to continue with this initiative, so we are delighted that they have pledged their support for the next three years. We believe that with the help of Scary Guy and Pindar's mentoring system we have a programme that will continue to deliver results."
Rick Lumby, Deputy Chairman G A Pindar and Son, commented:
"I was first introduced to the concept of Scary Guy and emotional intelligence by Hugh Bellamy who had already begun working with Scary and I quickly saw that the potential of this project was extensive. Both the Pindar family and the Board also saw the benefits of this exciting and interesting initiative and when we realised that it would not be able to continue without financial backing we agreed to support the project. I am delighted that as a company we have been able to continue to invest in local children and that through this we will be able to make a real impact on the future of our community."
Andrew Pindar, Chairman G.A. Pindar and Son, commented:
"As a business we believe that investing in the long term development of the community in which we live and work is essential. Through the use of Scary Guy we hope to not only help improve standards in schools in the region but also to make an impact in the local area. By pledging three years support we wanted to show how strongly we felt about being involved with this project and the importance of creating lasting relationships between our employees and the schools."
About Scary Guy
Scary Guy, the innovative motivational speaker, is an "Agent for Change" who has worked with over 5 million people around the world promoting peace, tolerance, love and acceptance of all people, through his mission of "Eliminating hate, violence and prejudice worldwide".
Following his presentations in Scarborough to each year in each of the schools, Scary Guy will return to the schools, on subsequent visits, to train children who demonstrate good emotional intelligence as Ambassadors for the project. This includes teaching them how to intervene and moderate, to remind their peers how to behave as the Scary Guy has taught them.
In addition to the school ambassadors, Pindar's staff mentoring will also be an important part of the scheme. This will be open to all staff, will be voluntary and involves spending between one to two hours a week to provide telephone or email support for the Ambassadors. Training is provided by the North Yorkshire Business in Education Partnership (NYBEP).
Pindar, Raincliffe and Filey Schools have all already had visits from Scary Guy. Graham, Scalby and St. Augustines Schools will all be visited later in the programme. Pindar's feeder schools, and several other primary schools, have also had visits but the rest of Scarborough's Primary schools will be visited by the end of the year.
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I just received this message from Emma. It sums it all up!
"Thank you very much for your address we will try our hardest to change the world.
Hope you had a nice time at our school. Thanks again, with Love, Emma xxxx"
Talk is cheap, action is rare, and the truth is Scary !
AWARENESS.UNDERSTANDING.ACCEPTANCE.LOVE
SCARY
THE NEW FACE OF LOVE
http://www.pindar.co.uk/
Please visit Julie's site, hear her wonderful music,
and read all about her and her life's work with Scary.
