(Best of the web is an occasional series of posts where I give a little love to the sites that I believe express the best of what the World Wide Web (you know, the Internet) can be)
Kid President is another one of the Best of the Web that began just as something fun to do. It began
as a promotional video idea for Freed-Hardeman University in Tennessee. The primary work has been between two brothers-in-law, Brad Montague and Robby Novak. Novak plays Kid President, an enthusiastic young man who brings humor and great energy to his positive messages. Novak is 10 years old (born in 2004) and has Osteogenesis Imperfecta. OI is a brittle bone disease that has resulted in over 70 fractures during Novak’s life.
What began as just some fun has taken on a life of its own. Kid President has its own YouTube channel, is a feature at Soul Pancake, has a blog, a book (Kid President’s Guide to Being Awesome) due out this year, and has met the actual President!
As Brad notes in their “Who We Are” section:
What’s inspiring about Robby isn’t his condition, but the fact that his condition doesn’t define who he is. In spite of all he’s been through he not only keeps going – he dances.
Kid President urges us to be awesome. He giggles. He tells terrible jokes. Kid President has publicly chastised poet Robert Frost. He speaks to the fundamental joy of life that seems to escape us when we grow up. Oh yes, and he dances.
What grabs me the most about these videos is that the “self appointed voice of a generation” brings a remarkably upbeat, optimistic point of view that the world can really use right now. Kid President not only makes me smile but gives me something to think about as well.
At age 10 though, he’s going to outgrow his gig eventually. That’ll be a sad day for me.
Stay awesome, Kid President, stay awesome.
Stories Are My Life 
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