Today, I am so grateful to Brenda for allowing me to participate in this extremely-important topic.
We hear a lot about bullying these days, and that is wonderful and amazing and every time I read about or see a post that speaks against this type of behavior, I cheer and fist-pump!
See, I’m a *tiny bit* past school age now. But back when I was in school, there was no outcry against bullying. It was just considered a part of life. Something one had to deal with. Almost a rite of passage. There were no posters, no website or conferences, no celebrities on TV speaking out on against bullying. People who were hurt like this back then just had to sink or swim. The sad part is, it’s difficult to say how many actually didn’t make it back to shore.
I was a chubster all through school. Though I slimmed up some when I went through puberty, I was never a size 2 like most of my friends. It’s never, ever easy to be the chubby kid. Even now, everyone is doing so much better, being politically-correct with most issues. Sexuality. Race. Creed. And that is a wonderful, positive thing. But for heavy people, there is still no umbrella of protection. Big people are still fair game.
Wow. Read the above paragraph again. Did you notice that I used four different terms that mean the same thing? Chubster. Chubby. Heavy. Big. I didn’t plan that. I used those words subconsciously because even now—at forty *cough* years old—it still hurts to use or hear the word ‘fat.’
Such a simple word. Just three tiny letters. Doesn’t seem like something that small could cause people so much pain, does it?
It’s kind of astonishing to me that in this day and age, with all we know about the terrible consequences bullying can cause that it’s still got so much power behind it.
But I’m here to tell you—as someone who’s been there/done that–that YOU are beautiful. YOU are strong. YOU are a miracle.
And NEVER let anyone, EVER tell you differently.
Janet B. Taylor
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I’m a reader and fan first and foremost! I’m also the author of the upcoming YA Time Travel series, INTO THE DIM (coming 3/1/2016 from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).
I’m also a total, fangirl, book geek…. member of the SCBWI and the fabulous debut author group, The Sweet 16s. In addition, I’m a member of–and have done author interviews for–the Historical Novel Society. I’m also the previous author of the popular CBS affiliate-fansite BigBigBrother.com .
I’m thrilled to say that I’m a member of the most sensational and thriving critique group on the planet! The SFWG Writing Group! (Don’t ask what it means, it’s a secret…shhh)
Best of all…I have a wonderful, loving and supportive husband of (cough, cough) years, and two amazing, brilliant sons. I’ll tell ya…I’m a lucky girl.
I’d love to hear from you!
To find out more about bullying and to learn the warning signs of bullying, go to http://childsafetyblog.org/.
“8 steps to combat the bullying epidemic” by Ann Marie Gardinier Halstead: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/8-steps-combat-bullying-epidemic-ann-marie-gardinier-halstead
“Is it Rude, Is it Mean, or Is it Bullying?”: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/passive-aggressive-diaries/201211/is-it-rude-is-it-mean-or-is-it-bullying