Authors Against Bullying: The Good Samaritan–We Need More

» Posted on Oct 19, 2012 in Blog | Comments Off on Authors Against Bullying: The Good Samaritan–We Need More

The perspective about bullying from a bystander who made a difference in a girl’s life who was bullied:

This morning I was drinking my coffee, getting ready to write. My husband had on the TV. He likes to turn on the TV and then leave! (Which, by the way, is bad for me because sometimes I end up watching it. Like today. But I think sometimes it is meant to be because otherwise I would never see some of the things that God wants me to see.) Anyway, Katie Couric was interviewing Lee Hirsch, a director who had filmed Bully, a documentary about a boy getting bullied on the bus, in the cafeteria, and in the school hallways. He was stabbed with a pencil, hit, continually elbowed, shoved—and verbally abused.

It reminded me of my days at school. I remember when I was in the fifth grade there was a girl in my class from India. She had a red dot tattoo in the middle of her forehead, between her eyebrows. Because she was different, the children on the playground were rude to her, called her names, and wouldn’t play with her. I felt so bad for her, and so I cajoled my best friend into joining me to ask her to play three-square, (I couldn’t convince anyone else to play with us, which would have been better—we could have played four-square!). She was so sweet. Her name was Maya. I found out she was Hindu and that her mark was called a bindi. The place between the eyebrows is where “Concealed Wisdom” is kept, and the mark was placed there to make her retain energy and strengthened concentration. We played with her every day, and every day I had to convince my best friend, Felicia, to play with us. Other kids started calling all of us names. Felicia stopped playing with Maya and, as a result, me, since I insisted on continuing to play with her. One day was particularly brutal. Four kids surrounded me and started calling me something—I didn’t know what it meant, but I was certain it was a really nasty, horrible thing to be called because they sneered at me when they said it.

After school I walked home, feeling so down, so defeated. It had been raining and dreary all day. Suddenly the sun broke through the clouds and I saw Him clothed in white. He was so bright, so beautiful all I could do was stare! I got such a warm, tingly feeling that knew I was right to play with Maya. That I was blessed, and God approved of my actions. Then, later, when I told my mother about it, and about what the kids were calling me, He reassured me again through my mother’s explanation—because what the other children called me was exactly what I wanted to be—a Good Samaritan!

Maya didn’t stay long at school. Her family ended up moving. But the whole experience changed me for the better. I learned how to fight injustice at a young age, and that this is what God wants me to do. I have this experience to lean on in my writing–as testimony that I am doing the right thing in writing fiction that has to do with not only bullying, but good against evil, and believing in Jesus is the only way to fight evil. And since then I’ve tried to be like I was as a child—a Good Samaritan.

I am giving away one copy of my Shattered Silence. To be entered you need to leave a comment  with your email addy in it (open for only people in the US). Shattered Silence is a book in the Men of the Texas Rangers Series about bullying.

The other authors against bullying with a blog about bullying:

 

Mandy M. Roth

Yasmine Galenorn

Lauren Dane

Michelle M. Pillow

Kate Douglas

Shawntelle Madison

Leah Braemel

Aaron Crocco

NJ Walters

Jax Garren

Shelli Stevens

Melissa Schroeder

Jaycee Clark

Shawna Thomas

Ella Drake

E.J. Stevens

Ashley Shaw

Jeaniene Frost

Rachel Caine

Kate Rothwell

Jackie Morse Kessler

Jaye Wells

Kate Angell

Melissa Cutler

PT Michelle

Patrice Michelle

Julie Leto

Kaz Mahoney

Cynthia D’Alba

Jesse L. Cairns

TJ Michaels

Jess Haines

Phoebe Conn

Jessa Slade

Kate Davies

Lynne Silver

Taryn Blackthorne

Alyssa Day

Aaron Dries

Lisa Whitefern

Rhyannon Byrd

Carly Phillips

Leslie Kelly

Janelle Denison

Graylin Fox

Lee McKenzie

Barbara Winkes

Harmony Evans

Mary Eason

Ann Aguirre

Lucy Monroe

Nikki Duncan

Kerry Schafer

Ruth Frances Long