Be kind to yourself and others.

The butterfly effect is more than a blockbuster. The Butterfly Effect. Most of my life in advertising consists of me using my creativity and writing to make both myself and other people money. It’s a fun, lucrative career but I’m not so romantic to believe that this kind of work is changing the world. The truth is that most of the things you see festooning the shelves of this store and that store aren’t at all things that people need. We don’t need another vacuum. We don’t need another TV. We don’t need another weight loss supplement. We don’t need another craft brewery. And we certainly don’t need another goddamn iPhone. With that said, folks work awfully hard for their money and can use it however they so choose and I do think that these kinds of products can provide worthwhile experiences, momentary pockets of pleasure and, in some rare cases, a dramatic impact on their lives. But, I do feel confident saying that if both myself and every other adman changed their professions tomorrow, the world would probably look a hell of a lot prettier. There'd be a lot fewer billboards, after all. However, if advertising is going to happen whether we like it or not, I view my life in advertising as making a rather nasty medium a little more artful or, at the very least, bearable. Additionally, every now and again, I attempt to balance out my sins by using my money-printing creative skills for a bit of good. Three, maybe four weeks back, I had this idea of throwing a ball where the price of entry was a teddy bear; a teddy bear that would be donated to children, somewhere. I shared the idea with my girl, in passing, and then we shared the idea with a few friends and, before we knew it, we had a small team of folks throwing themselves at the possibility of a Teddy Bear Ball. Before I knew it... Elliot was securing the venue. Shelly was connecting the dots. Jack and Chappy were doing the heavy lifting. JP was dreaming up the landscape. Taylor was keeping everyone on task. Lyon, Jules and the stunning team over at The Dive Motel were providing the space and logistics. Kacey was calling in the heavies. And I was standing back, mesmerized, at the world that could be created in just a few weeks with enough talented people going after something bigger than themselves. This past Saturday, 180 folks rendezvoused at The Dive Motel here in Nashville, Tennessee to build bears at a pop-up shop by Build-A-Bear, devour burgers and pizzas served up by the legendary Sean Brock, down delicious cocktails hand-crafted by the talented mixologists at The Dive (and made with 818 tequila donated by Kendall Jenner) and dance the night away to a fabulous live jazz band and later an astounding local DJ group called “Sparkle City”. By the end of the night, we donated 300 bears to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital that kids there will be able to love and hold on Christmas morning and we collectively raised $44,600 to go towards a rehabilitation center at this same hospital, that will allow children with serious injuries here in Nashville to heal in Nashville, close to their homes, rather than having to drive three hours away to Atlanta. Naturally, I’ve done a bit of reflection on all of this and here’s where I've landed... Childhood can be magical but it can also be really difficult, too. And, I do think it's our responsibility as adults to make a child’s life as safe and as comfortable as possible. Sometimes, this is as a parent attempting to be better than your parents and your parents’ parents. Other times, this is looking for ways to leave the world a little bit better of a place than you found it. There’s such a thing as The Butterfly Effect, where a small, almost unnoticeable change today can result in a massive, life-altering change tomorrow, where the flap of a butterfly’s wing in Nashville can lift a plane off the ground several states over in Montana, where a single teddy bear donated today might be able to get a child through, tomorrow. In third grade, I had a teacher named Mrs. Woodall in Evansville, Indiana who placed me under her wing after a string of teachers left me feeling very stupid. She took a story I had written and put it in-between two laminated covers that, when opened, looked like a butterfly taking rest. I’ve been trying to pay her back ever since. Cheers, By [Cole Schafer](. P.S. If you're feeling inspired and would like to flap your wings, you can make a one-time donation to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital [here]( or at the black button down below... P.P.S. 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