The Story Behind Thank You For Sharing

Growing up, Bill Cosby was a household name. Not only that, but he held special significance to my family and I.

I’ve seen Bill Cosby as Himself many times, and the jokes were told throughout my house. Many of them spring to mind as I’m writing this.

Then we found out what he’d been doing. We saw the man behind the stage, and suddenly, the jokes had a sour taste to them. They were so ingrained in my family, that I didn’t know how to think about it.

I shied away from his jokes for a while. They’d been tainted, enough so that I didn’t want to repeat them.

While in a writing workshop, we were given a prompt to write a poem of gratitude towards someone or something horrible. Bill Cosby was one of the first things that popped into my head.

That poem became Thank You for Sharing.

I still don’t have an answer. But I know that someone’s actions can’t take everything they gave me away.

For now, I’ll continue to look to people like Fred Rogers, a man that was just as good off screen as on, and hope that other people can follow his example. I certainly try.

#StoryBehind

© 2023 Sky Starlight CC BY-NC-SA