Stories for Boys Who Dare to Be Different

by Ben Brooks

  As the days went on, more and more people joined the demonstrations, all meeting in a place called Tiananmen Square. Some went on hunger strike. One of China’s biggest pop stars turned up to perform a concert.

  The government panicked. They sent in soldiers, who shot at the protesters, killing huge numbers of them.

  The next day, tanks rolled through the streets to stop anyone from protesting again.

  Suddenly, the tanks came to a stop.

  A man dressed in a white shirt and black trousers, clutching two shopping bags at his sides, had planted himself in front of the lead tank. When the tank tried to go around him, he stepped to the side and blocked its path again. This went on until the tank turned off its engine.

  Then two men in blue appeared and led the man away.

  The whole thing was captured in a photograph, and that photograph went on to become one of the most powerful symbols of resistance to injustice that we have today: one man on his own, standing up not just to a line of tanks, but to the cruel government that had put them there.

  No one knows who Tank Man is or what happened to him. Some say he was arrested, some say he was killed, and some say he escaped. We may never know for sure.

  ALAN TURING

  (1912–1954)

  During the Second World War, countries would speak to each other using codes to prevent their enemies from understanding their messages. The most important and difficult code was used by the Germans. It was called Enigma.

  Britain desperately needed to crack it. If they could, they’d know all of their enemy’s secrets, including their next moves. But it was almost impossible. There was only one person they could think of who might be able to help: Alan Turing.

  Alan had loved numbers ever since he was a child. He wasn’t encouraged at school, but when he got to college, Alan flourished. He was studying pure mathematics, then his unusual way of thinking led him to look for practical ways of using math. He wanted to change the way people lived in a useful manner. He published a paper that signaled the beginning of modern computers.

  Once the government had brought him in, Alan helped them break the Enigma code by building a machine called the Bombe. Some people think that, by cracking the code, Alan shortened the war by four years, which would mean he saved millions of lives.

  In 1952, police heard rumors that he was gay. At the time, being gay was still a crime, and he was arrested.

  Alan was found guilty. Even after what he’d done for the country, he was given the choice of jail or taking drugs that would supposedly change him. He chose the drugs and they made him sick. It hurt so much that he poisoned himself and died.

  But he was never forgotten. Sixty-one years later, in 2013, Alan was granted a posthumous royal pardon, and four years after that, in 2017, Turing’s Law was passed, pardoning all men who had ever been convicted of anything related to being gay. His great niece, Rachel Barnes, thinks it’s tremendous, but wants people to remember that Alan was a lot more than just his sexuality. He was an incredibly intelligent, devoted, and forward-thinking person who helped save the lives of countless others.

  JOHN TYNDALL

  (1820–1893)

  Almost every day after school, John would walk home with his teacher, Master Conwill. They discussed geometry as they went and would stop to scratch diagrams into the dirt and snow of County Carlow, Ireland.

  During his childhood in Ireland, John discovered his love of nature, and this only grew when he moved abroad to study science; he never felt more alive than when he was scaling daunting mountain slopes or trekking across freezing glaciers.

  But John’s adventures weren’t just to explore; he was also taking notes and gathering information. John could see that everything in nature has causes and effects, and he wanted to discover what some of those causes and effects could be.

  Like, what makes the sky blue?

  To work it out, John created an experiment. He had a glass tube (to act as the sky), a white light shining through it (to act as the sun), and gas, which was slowly pumped into the tube (to act as the air).

  John found that the gas in the tube made the light look blue. So the sky must be blue because all the tiny particles of air up there scatter the sun’s light!

  And not only is blue sky caused by the Tyndall effect, but the blue of someone’s eyes is, too, and so is the way you can see car headlights in fog.

  As successful as he became, John never forgot Ireland or his first teacher. When Master Conwill retired, John stepped in to pay him a pension so that he could live comfortably. He even went back to his old school, where he gave a gold coin to every pupil who understood a mathematical theory.

  UYAQUQ

  (CIRCA 1860–1924)

  Uyaquq belonged to an Inuit people called the Yup’ik, who roamed across Alaska. They lived together in underground houses built from grass and walrus skin, wearing clothes made from animal hides and traveling with sleds pulled by dogs.

  Originally, the Yup’ik had their own religion, based around spirits, monsters, half-humans, and legendary animals. Then people from Germany came, spreading the word of Jesus and the Bible.

  Uyaquq converted to Christianity with his dad and rose up through the ranks to become a leader in the Alaskan Church. He spread his beliefs through-out their valley, often winning over entire villages with his charm.

  One thing that amazed Uyaquq was how the English-speaking Christians could recite whole passages from the Bible using exactly the same words each time. The Yup’ik didn’t have writing, so everything they knew about Christianity had been told to them and shared by talking.

  After being inspired by a dream, Uyaquq decided to create his own written language.

  When a German priest discovered what Uyaquq was doing, he was amazed, and he brought him to a church where he could keep working.

  Uyaquq worked for five years on his language, evolving it rapidly through five stages. It became known as Yugtun, or Alaskan Yup’ik. He’d given his people their own language that they could use to share and record their own stories.

  Since then, scientists have been studying Uyaquq’s writing. On his own, without any help, he managed to create a whole written language from nothing, a process that had taken entire civilizations thousands of years to achieve.

  RICK VAN BEEK

  Rick’s daughter, Maddy, was two months old when she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. It would mean that she couldn’t control her muscles and would have trouble with learning and thinking.

  Even though Maddy couldn’t talk, it had always been obvious to Rick that she loved being outside. She loved the breeze and the trees and the water. It was made especially clear when a friend pulled Maddy along in a cart during a marathon. Rick could see how happy she was. He decided to make a change.

  The next day, Rick quit smoking and started exercising.

  When Maddy was thirteen, he completed a triathlon with her. In a triathlon, the first leg is swimming, the second is biking, and the third is running. Rick towed Maddy in a canoe for the swimming, pulled her behind him in a trailer for the biking, and carried her in his arms for the run. Crowds were cheering for them every step of the way. As they crossed the finish line, everyone went wild.

  People tell Rick he’s inspiring, but he tells them it’s all Maddy. She’s the one who inspired him. Together, they make up Team Maddy, and they’ve since completed all kinds of different races, raising money for charity along the way.

  How does he do it?

  “She’s my heart and I’m her legs,” Rick says.

  LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

  (1770–1827)

  Neighbors said that they would often see a small boy being pushed up to a piano by his father, and that the boy would cry as he was forced to play. They said the boy was so small he had to stand on a stool to reach the keys.

  The boy was beaten by his father, locked in a basement, and kept from sleeping, even when he was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open.

  At s
chool, things weren’t much better. The boy had dyslexia, which meant he struggled with words. For him, music always came much more easily and, despite the harsh treatment from his father, he couldn’t wait to get back and lose himself in it.

  The boy got older and became a man. He wrote new music every day, hardly lifting his hands off the piano. Even as an adult, though, he was so shy it hurt, and that shyness kept him from ever getting married or having children.

  One day, the man discovered that he was going deaf. It threw him into a deep, dark sadness. How would he compose music if he couldn’t hear? And what would he do if he couldn’t compose music?

  Amazingly, even when he lost his hearing completely, the man carried on writing music. In fact, he composed some of his most beautiful music without being able to hear at all.

  The boy that cried on to the piano, and the man that he became, was named Ludwig van Beethoven, and he’s considered by many people to be the greatest composer who ever lived.

  VINCENT VAN GOGH

  (1853–1890)

  Growing up, Vincent didn’t have any confidence and he had no idea what he wanted to be. He tried being a preacher, working in a bookstore, and traveling as a salesman, but none of them worked out.

  Then Vincent decided he would become a painter.

  He went to Paris and met the famous artists of the time: Gauguin and Monet. He tried to copy their styles, but couldn’t, so he invented his own way of painting instead.

  At the time, Vincent was struggling with his feelings. He couldn’t sleep. He barely ate. Often, he got confused and upset by the world around him. One night, he chased his friend with a razor and ended up cutting his own ear off instead. Worried, his brother sent him to a hospital to try and get better.

  Vincent painted the sadness and madness that he felt inside him and the beauty and inspiration that he found around him. He painted the golden sunflowers and the swirling night sky. He painted himself, cold and confused.

  His paintings were dramatic, beautiful, and emotional. They were also a completely unique and new way of painting, discovered by him looking inside himself instead of at others.

  While he was alive, Vincent only ever sold one painting, and not for a lot of money. Now he’s considered one of the best and most original painters who ever lived. Today, buying one of his paintings would cost you as much as buying an entire island.

  NICK VUJICIC

  (BORN 1982)

  Nick likes skydiving, soccer, and swimming. He paints. He writes books. He was even featured on the cover of Surfer magazine after he became the first person in history to do 360-degree spins on his board.

  Nick was also born with no arms and no legs.

  Doctors were shocked when his mother gave birth to him; they hadn’t been prepared for Nick’s condition and couldn’t understand what had caused it.

  Growing up, Nick was unhappy. He felt alone and angry. It didn’t seem fair that he’d been given a different body than everyone else and he was worried that he’d never be able to live the way he wanted to. He wondered what the point of everything was. He wondered what he was supposed to do with his life.

  Then, one day, Nick read an article about a disabled man who had inspired thousands of people through his speeches about overcoming adversity. He decided he wanted to try it, too. For his first talk, he spoke to a hall of three hundred fourteen-year-old students. He was so nervous, he was shaking. But after a few minutes, most of the students were in tears. One girl raised her hand.

  “I’m so sorry to interrupt,” she said, “but could I come and hug you?”

  As they hugged, she whispered in his ear that no one had ever told her she was beautiful the way she was, which is what Nick had said to all the children in the room.

  From then on, Nick knew what he wanted to do. He has traveled across forty-four countries, giving over three thousand talks. Everywhere he goes, he inspires and moves people. He lets them know that they are all loved and beautiful, even when they feel like they’re not.

  “It’s a lie to think you’re not good enough,” he says. “It’s a lie to think you’re not worth anything.”

  TAIKA WAITITI

  (BORN 1975)

  Taika always loved comic books and superheroes, but he never saw people like himself in them.

  His father is Maori, which is the name given to the first people who lived on the islands of New Zealand. The Maori people have their own rich culture, language, and beliefs. They practice arts like carving, dancing, singing, and facial tattooing, and believe that we are all descended from two original gods, the Sky Father and the Earth Mother.

  Despite their culture and history, Taika always felt like they were never properly represented in films and TV. Whenever Maori characters appeared, they had to be tough guys or warriors, they were never funny, and they never felt real.

  “We never embraced the buffoons in our culture,” Taika said. “Maori nerds or Maori dorks.”

  So that’s what he set out to do.

  Taika wrote and directed a film about a young Maori boy who adores Michael Jackson, misses his dad, and spends a lot of time talking to his pet goat. Then he directed another film, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, about a Maori boy who loves hip-hop and ends up running from the police, in the forest, with a grumpy old man.

  Both films were hilarious and heartbreaking, and they caught the attention of people all over the world. Because of them, Taika was asked to direct a big Hollywood superhero movie titled Thor, about the god of thunder and his quest to stop the destruction of civilization. Taika has shown the world another side to Maori people and he’s been able to create his own comic-book universe, too.

  AI WEIWEI

  (BORN 1957)

  Imagine yourself in a blank, gray room as big as a cathedral. And imagine that the room contains one hundred million sunflower seeds. Now imagine that, instead of sprouting from sunflowers, each of those seeds had to be handmade and painted by an actual person.

  What you’ve just pictured in your mind is one of Ai Weiwei’s most famous pieces of art. To him, it’s one piece of art made of millions of pieces of art, the same way China is one country made of 1.3 billion citizens, and we’re one species of 7 billion people.

  Ai says that the purpose of art is to fight for freedom. In China, where he’s from, people often aren’t granted the freedoms people in other countries are used to. For example, when Ai started criticizing the government on his blog, it was shut down, and they started spying on him by listening in to his phone calls and following him through the streets.

  Ai spoke out through art when an earthquake killed thousands of children in China. To save money, the government had built the schools so badly that they came crashing down as the ground shook, trapping the children inside.

  Then, when police beat him up for letting everyone know, he made art from the scans the hospital took of his brain.

  Ai wasn’t allowed to leave his house, his art studio was burned down, and he was even imprisoned for eighty-one days. To show how furious he was at the government, he filmed himself smashing an eight-hundred-year-old Chinese pot worth one million dollars!

  “I speak out for people around me who are afraid,” said Ai.

  Why?

  Because we’re all tiny sunflower seeds, but we’re all part of something bigger, too.

  OSCAR WILDE

  (1854–1900)

  Isola Wilde died unexpectedly a few days before her tenth birthday. Her brother, Oscar, was devastated. Not knowing what else to do, he spent long periods of time sitting by her grave and telling her stories.

  As he grew older, Oscar became a famous poet and playwright and was often seen wandering around dressed in strange clothes and wearing huge flowers. He was known everywhere for being hilarious, confident, and loud, but people said that if he ever started talking about his sister, which he often did, he’d get quieter and softer.

  One of his most famous poems was written for her; the first lines are:

  Tr
ead lightly, she is near

  Under the snow,

  Speak gently, she can hear

  The daisies grow.

  Oscar was gay, and he fell in love with a young lord whose father was cruel and intolerant. Because of him, Oscar was brought to trial, found guilty, and sentenced to two years of hard labor in prison. When he got out, Oscar moved straight to France. He was sick and poor, and he died a few years later. It wasn’t until after his death that his writing was really noticed. Since then, his plays and poems have been performed, studied, and filmed all over the world.

  Visitors to his tomb used to cover their mouths in lipstick and leave bright kisses all over it until a glass case was put up. They would sit and speak to Oscar the way he used to sit and speak to his little sister.

  “We are all in the gutter,” he once said, “but some of us are looking at the stars.”

  NICHOLAS WINTON

  (1909–2015)

  In December 1938, Nicholas’s friend called to cancel their ski trip.

  “We should go to Prague instead,” his friend said. “There’s something you have to see.”

  What Nicholas saw when he got there were hundreds of thousands of refugees who’d escaped from Germany. Most of them were Jewish. They were fleeing because the Nazis who controlled Germany had been hunting them down, taking them to camps, and killing them, just because of their religion. In Prague, they had no money, no food, nowhere to live, and nowhere to go.

  Nicholas knew he had to at least try to do something.

  From a hotel room, he started taking names, photos, and details of children so that he could help get them into England. Once he got back to London, he worked at fundraising for the children and searching for families who could take them in.