Today I have Laura Lascarso who has been kind enough to participate along with Amy and I to help raise awareness this month. Laura has a story for us to think about. A story that includes many options that will lead to many different senarios. But, right choices need to be made. Laura has also donated a signed copy of Counting Backwards to one lucky winner!
Real Life Choices
By Laura Lascarso
Anna is a seventh grader in a public middle school. At her
school, lunch is set up so that Anna cannot sit with her group of friends; she
must sit at a table with her fourth period class.
In her fourth period class, there is a bully—Eric—who has an
entourage of friends: a girlfriend he doesn’t treat very well, a best friend
who magnifies his misbehavior by egging him on, and a couple other kids who
we’ll call Chuckles and Laughs.
Anna sits by herself at the lunch table, but is within hearing
range of the aforementioned “Cool Kids.” In recent weeks the Cool Kids have decided
to pick on one kid in particular—Caleb. Anna doesn’t know why Caleb is their
target, nor does she like the fact that the Cool Kids bully him. She hates that
no one says anything about it. She hates that she can’t put a stop to it. She
feels powerless and frustrated and angry by the bullies’ behavior.
Today the Cool Kids have come up with a scheme. When Caleb
gets up to put away his tray, the Cool Kids are going to dump their food into
Caleb’s backpack. They are—while Anna watches—piling all of their scraps onto
one tray in preparation for this act.
Anna is the only one outside their circle who knows their
plan.
If Anna were a character in a story and I could write the
scene, I would have her switch backpacks, so that one of the bullies’ backpacks
is the recipient of the prank. The bullies would get their just desserts and
decide that bullying never pays. They’d get to know Caleb better and learn that
he is an awesome person who excels at strategy games like Risk and is the star
goalie for his city league soccer team. They’d become friends and lunch would
be something that each of them look forward to every day, instead of dreading.
But Anna is a real person, and there are real consequences
to whatever she chooses to do.
If she tells Caleb their plan, she risks becoming the Cool
Kids’ next target. She also risks raising the stakes for Caleb; that the Cool
Kids, angry that their plan was fouled, will engineer something worse for Caleb
later.
If she speaks out against the bullies, they might also turn
on her. They might do something mean to Anna, if only to prove she can’t tell
them what to do.
If she does nothing, the bullies are empowered; Caleb is
victimized; the injustice continues.
I don’t have the perfect solution for Anna. I this wasn’t a
choice she had to make. I wish that every child felt so good about themselves,
that they didn’t feel the need to belittle and demean each other. I wish that
every child cherished their individuality and that of the peers. I wish adults
felt the same way.
But it is a real decision that kids must make on a regular
basis—whether to stand up against bullies, stand up for their friends and peers,
or whether to remain quiet.
Speaking up takes courage. Anna is taking a very real risk.
She is risking both her emotional security and her personal safety. She is
going to have to interact with these peers for the rest of the year, and maybe
longer. They can make her life a living hell as they’ve done to Caleb. They
very well might.
And still, I would challenge Anna and those who find
themselves in this situation, to say something. Not to Caleb, or to a teacher,
but to the bully. Better yet, ask them questions:
“What are you doing? Really, why? Wow, I would feel terrible
if someone did that to me. Are you trying to make Caleb feel terrible? Are you
mad at him? Did he do something to you? Are you sure you want to do this?”
Like a science experiment, Anna is a variable that the Cool
Kids didn’t plan for. Perhaps her presence, however she chooses to express it,
will change the outcome of this experiment. Hopefully, it will encourage the
bullies to reflect upon their own behavior. Maybe the bullies will decide
against their prank, or at the very least, miss their opportunity. Maybe Caleb
will realize that other kids, like Anna, are troubled by the bullying. Maybe he
will realize that he is not alone and tomorrow, he and Anna will sit together
at lunch, and the next day, another person will join them. Maybe they will
outnumber the bullies.
Maybe they will win.
When troubled Taylor Truwell is caught with a stolen car and lands in court for resisting arrest, her father convinces the judge of an alternative to punishment: treatment in a juvenile psychiatric correctional facility. Sunny Meadows is anything but the easy way out, and Taylor has to fight hard just to hold on to her sanity as she battles her parents, her therapist, and vicious fellow patients. But even as Taylor struggles to hold on to her stubborn former self, she finds herself relenting as she lets in two unlikely friends--Margo, a former child star and arsonist, and AJ, a mysterious boy who doesn’t speak. In this striking debut, Laura Lascarso weaves together a powerful story of anger and self-destruction, hope and love.
Rules:
13+
US Only
Winner must respond within 48 hours
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I love and appreciate all comments. This is an award free blog. I am unfortunately too busy to participate.