Kiwi-born Welsh YouTuber and poet, Tomos Roberts, aka Probably Tom Foolery, has shown us a ray of sunshine through what seems like grey skies with his pandemic poem, “The Great Realisation”. And, the video that has been viewed by a staggering 24 million plus worldwide has already got Hollywood heavyweights like Jake Gyllenhaal knocking on his door.
Told in the form of a bedtime fairytale set years after 2020, ‘The Great Realisation” embraces the beauty of hindsight. It looks back at how humanity has gone from tech addicts to outdoor explorers. He explains how we as a population have disregarded all of life’s simple pleasures like playing outside or even communicating with our loved ones. Instead, we found ourselves glued to our phones, laptops and gaming consoles, blinded by our devices to the point where we failed to see the very beauty right in front of us.
“And so when we found the cure, and were allowed to go outside; we all preferred the world we found to the one we’d left behind.”
Tomos speaks of how the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has in a way helped us recapture our love of the small things. We now make the most of our daily runs, we FaceTime our family more often, and check in on our loved ones whenever we can. As a result of a sudden halt in the world’s movement, the grey has begun to clear. The stars in the galaxy shine bright and the earth is beginning to breathe again.
Its positivity stems from the fact that we’ll realise just how much we took it all for granted. “And so when we found the cure and were allowed to go outside; we all preferred the world we found to the one we’d left behind,” he says in the video.
“But why did it take a virus to bring the people back together?” asks the curious child. Why must it take such a drastic change to our lives for us to realise the damage we’ve done? The answer is simple, really, “sometimes you’ve got to get sick, my boy, before you start feeling better.”
The video has amassed over 24 million views across Facebook and Youtube as the viewers exclaim their praises. But in an interview with NZ Herald, Tomos explained that he was not looking for praise, instead, he was more excited about the impact it could have on peoples’ perspectives.
Amongst those impressed by the message and the YouTuber’s creativity are a number of A-list celebrities including Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, and Kristen Bell. Jake Gyllenhaal even reached out to Tomos concerning the possibility of turning the poem into a children’s book; a project that is currently in the works.
The Great Realisation serves as not only a creative masterpiece but also an important message to us all. During bleak times, it’s crucial that we see the light at the end of the tunnel, the positive impacts arising as a result of something negative. It’s a plead to humanity to embrace to the opportunity given to us to give more life to our world.
