Stand Strong: You Can Overcome Bullying (and Other Stuff That Keeps You Down) (21 page)

When someone asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” He told a story about a Jewish man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho who was robbed, beaten, and left for dead on the road. Two people, a priest and a Levite, passed by without offering any help, but a third man, who was from Samaria, went to his aid despite the fact that Samaritans and Jews were enemies in those times.

The Samaritan treated the Jewish man’s wounds and took him to a hotel where he cared for him. Before leaving, the Samaritan gave the innkeeper money and promised to return to check on him.

After telling the story, Jesus asked His listeners to identify the true neighbor among the three who came upon the beaten man. When someone responded that it was the Samaritan because he alone had mercy on the victim, Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.”

In this book, I’ve provided you with a bully defense system
because I love you and I want to do everything I can to protect you from emotional and physical harm. Now, in this final chapter, I want to encourage you to “go and do likewise.”

I encourage you to develop empathy for others, like the good Samaritan showed. Please do everything you can to protect others from emotional and physical harm caused by bullies.

I am hereby deputizing you as a modern-day good Samaritan. Your mission is to do everything within your power to stamp out bullying anywhere and everywhere. I know you are just one person. I’m just one person too, and I’m one person who is short four limbs! Yet I’ve traveled the world encouraging and convincing teenagers to make it uncool to be a bully. You can do likewise in your own school, family, neighborhood, community, state, and country.

Bullies try to isolate and prey on people; so if we stand together against bullying, that can never happen. Stand together so no one will stand alone! Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

Bullying is a global issue, and it has a negative impact on the quality of our lives. Bullies rob young people of their joy. They terrorize them and turn schools and playgrounds into
places darkened by fear and dread. I nearly took my life because of bullying. I know others who did take their lives and still others who turned to drugs, alcohol, and injuring themselves to alleviate the pain.

Experts on bullying say it also creates a vicious cycle of violence. Many of those who’ve been bullied in the past become bullies themselves. The violent people who conducted several of the most infamous mass shootings in schools and other places were reportedly once bullied. We can stop this cycle by working to identify bullies in our midst and doing whatever it takes to change their behavior and help them find a new path.

For a time as a teenager, I hated my life because of bullies at school. I can understand the rage inside those bullied people who become bullies themselves. But I also understand there is a way to disarm that rage and to find a much better way to live, one that is illuminated by God’s love.

You see, I discovered that while you can hurt and be hurt with words, you also can heal and save with words. The Bible says we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” Armed with that truth, we can fight bullying by assuring each and every person we meet that we are all children of God, loved by Him and deserving of His best.

So now that you are equipped with your bully defense system, how do you join our global campaign against bullying? Here are a few suggestions, and feel free to add your own:

I promise that you won’t be alone in your efforts to stop bullying. Thousands of people around the world have committed to end this epidemic, and I know for a fact that God is already at work. Each week, there are more and more antibullying campaigns around the world. I applaud local, state, and national governments that have enacted legislation against bullying. But we can’t rely just on elected officials and government agencies. This should be a cause embraced by everyone, because bullying impacts us all.

People of faith in particular need to step up and become the advocates—the modern-day good Samaritans—for victims. Jesus was the supreme role model for standing up to bullies and in teaching us how to respond to bullies. Christ was reviled by bullies who had it out for Him. And yet He never lashed out. He never stooped to their level. With compassion, Jesus dealt with bullies from a platform of love and redemption.

Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.… Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Please join me in this never-ending effort to stand up and stop bullying in every form it takes and wherever it may occur in the world. Reach out to victims and potential victims, and help them develop their own bully defense systems.

As a father, I will serve as the champion defender for my son. I do not want him to be the target of a bully’s reckless comments, but I cannot isolate him in a protective bubble. He will one day feel the sting of someone’s deliberate arrows of cruelty. And to prepare him, I will spend plenty of time coaching my son on how to neutralize the comments from an angry peer.

Our antibullying campaigns can begin within our own families as we protect those we love, but if we are to be true good Samaritans, our loving protection should extend to everyone faced with bullying.

Together let’s embrace, support, and protect those targeted by bullies. Help them build their own bully defense systems. Together let’s wipe away the tears of those who privately struggle. Together let’s rise up to protect the wounded hearts of boys, girls, men, and women around the world, the very same people for whom Christ gave His life. And finally, let’s work together to make this a safer, more peaceful, kinder, and more loving
world for the next generations of teens—our children and their children too!

Okay, it’s time to go out and conquer bullying. To help you do that, I’m posting your Bully Defense System statement again on the next page, at the end of this book, so you can easily find it. I hope you will read it and use it as often as you feel it will help you. I love you!