Bully Awareness .................

This morning I read a quotation of words by Steve Seskin on Facebook.   With his permission I want to share this excerpt from his writing with you. 

"I'm a little boy with glasses, the one they call the geek; a little girl who never smiles cause I've got braces on my teeth.  I'm that kid on every playground who is always chosen last, you don't have to be my friend, but is it too much to ask:  don't laugh at me, don't call me names, don't get your pleasure from my pain?  In God's eyes we're all the same."

The following is by author, Basil George: 

Two days ago, this fellow, a stranger to me, sent a note to me here on fb. He said, "Hey are you from (his area)?" I replied that I was, but had not lived there for a very long time. He went on to say, " When we were young.....kid's age....you saved a seat for me on the bus....I felt safe...." That is all he wrote. He wrote the last line as I have written it here. The only time I ever rode on a school bus was when I was ten and eleven years old. I know that during those years, I was physically bullied a whole lot. That trauma stayed with me for years. I am happy that this fellow wrote me and told me that he "felt safe". In a later letter, he said he is now fifty-four. I told him that I was fifty-nine. So about forty-nine years have passed since the day he felt safe. I cannot remember that time so long ago. Now that I know about it, I do not see this as a memory. I see this as a living root, seemingly planted for future days. To know that I helped a little kid, when I was myself a little kid, today helps me to acknowledge that all of my childhood can't have been so bad...that I was not a bad boy who deserved to get beaten by other kid's. I was a good boy. I am a good man. I have a teardrop for that little fellow who could feel safe. While so many of my teardrops are like star's in my night, the teardrop I want to give is now both the sun and the moon. You see....today I am afraid.....today. Through that little person's words, a five year old's words....I know I am now okay. He is okay. One good thought, one good feeling of being safe, has spread its roots, nourished by rains and earth. Tall with the nobility of the sun and the goodness in this life, now stands a tree. That tree beckons to me. The sheltering tree, that tree of life, reaches far. Now I know my life's work can begin. Thank you, five year old Kelly. I trust your next forty-nine years have been good.


A couple of years ago I wrote a Novella about bullying.   Fortunate for me this novella was short listed in a Wynterblue Novella Writing Competition.

Mr. Seskin's words have prompted me to share just a couple of small excerpts from my novella which is titled, Window of Opportunity.

"This time Anthony was spared the agony of another visit to the principal's office.  He felt grateful for small mercies.  He also felt anxious.  Time was running out.  Only nine days to go and he still had absolutely no idea how or where he would raise the fifty cents needed to appease the bullies."

And then, later in the story .........

"On his way to school that Friday morning Anthony walked the familiar five blocks once again with his little brother and sister.  As luck would have it, again they met up with the three badgering bullies. 

"Only eight days to go, fat boy!  Money talks!" Timothy O'Brien taunted.

Jerry Hasselbergen deliberately stuck his long trousered leg out in front of Anthony in an effort to trip him up and send him flying.  But this time Tony was quick to respond.

With amazing agility he jumped over Jerry's leg.  With lightning speed he turned on his sneakered toes until he was standing tall with confidence facing the terrible three.  He spoke softly, yet surely, in a menacing tone.

"What goes around comes around!" He made direct eye contact with the biggest of the bullies then wilfully whispered, "You will be wise not to turn your back on me!"

"You threatening me?" Jerry Hasselbergen hissed .... "Who do you think you are threatening me?"

Anthony was calm and resolute in his response.  "I know who I am but what are you?"

There was something about the quiet, deep, soft tone of Anthony's voice that made the bullies hesitate before making their next move.  They needed to examine their strategy."

Bullying is a very serious issue in today's society.

Did you know that one random act of kindness as the one shown to the five year old by Basil George can be like the proverbial pebble in the pond?   A small act of kindness can have a rippling effect which will  positively impact on a lifetime.

To borrow a quotation, "Smile at one person, change 1000 lives"

To learn more about bullying and how you can help; visit the website of Public Safety Canada.