In this deeply personal episode of Help the People, Shannon Riley reflects on the resilience he built while navigating grade school, middle school, high school, and college systems that failed to see, support, or understand him. Through passages from his memoir Letters from the Valley, he reveals how silence shaped his early years, how the mask hardened in middle school, and how he learned to rise not because he was strong, but because he was tired of sinking.

Shannon challenges the myth that “struggle makes you stronger” and argues that real resilience is built through support, affirmation, education, and self-worth not trauma. Speaking directly to young listeners, he reminds them that they are not problems to be managed but possibilities the system is unprepared to handle.

The episode closes with a resonant truth: “It’s easier to prepare strong children than to repair broken ones.”
Shannon connects this message to his novel Murder of Crows, a story filled with characters shaped by the same systems that tried and failed to break him.

A raw, honest, and healing conversation for anyone rebuilding their resilience or guiding the next generation toward theirs.