Finding My Voice

Eh hem . . . la, la, LA, la, la (clears throat) Try that again. Laaaaaa, laaaaaaaa, LAAAAA, laaaaaa, laaa. We used to do that in high school choir, going up and down the scale for voice warm-ups.

High school. Talk about a time when I had lost my voice!

It started in junior high. The chatty, outgoing little girl that I had been got buried under the ugly divorce of my parents, a move to a new state, and a nightmare junior high experience. Yes, that included the typical stuff of trying to figure out who I was, but then my own “best” friends started bullying me. They seemed to love the power they had over me, even threatening to beat up other friends if they talked to me. I wanted to hide and escape, but where do you go when you have to be in class and walk to and from school every day?

I didn't know much about God, so it didn’t cross my mind that I could turn to him for reminders of who I really was or who I was becoming. I had no idea that Someone was there to walk with me through that crushing season.

I now can look back and see he was there, protecting me and beginning to draw me to himself.

Thankfully the friends of junior high went to a different high school, but the whole experience left me so shaken that even after I found new, great friends, I was afraid to speak. I would but words were often carefully measured. I’d cringe and want to hide when I perceived that I’d said anything wrong. With one friend, who I really cared about, I could share my feelings and even be angry. While it sometimes strained our friendship, I think I was thankful I could be myself and she wouldn’t entirely reject me.

One tiny step in finding my voice. God wasn’t going to let it stop there.

(More to come in future posts)

How about you? Have crushing experiences and relationships silenced your voice? Your heart?


http://www.jankern.com/
http://www.courageousmoves.com/

Bullies

Okay so we’re moving from marshmallows to bullying but hey, that’s what’s fun about being here. Every day is different:-)

I have to tell you that I’m still a bit heartbroken over the story of Phoebe Prince - the fifteen year old who was bullied so relentlessly that she went home and hung herself.

This article said:

Her books were routinely knocked out of her hands, items were flung at her, her face was scribbled out of photographs on the school walls, and threatening text messages were sent to her cell phone.

Scheibel said she had drawn the ire of the "Mean Girls" by briefly dating a popular senior football player in her first freshman weeks at the school. One student later said it felt like the whole school ganged up on her.

Then I read about these boys and their pink shirts, and it reminded that despite all the evil out there, there are kids willing to stand up and do what is right and good.

In response to Phoebe and the countless, nameless others who have been bullied and harassed, I joined YA Authors Against Bullying on Facebook. That page has many other links to stories of bullying and those who have stood up against it.

I think bullying is one of the hardest things to deal with - and it honestly never goes away. It’s not a high school issue - it’s a human issue.

Myra McEntire shared on her blog about a slew of verbal bullying that occurred on twitter just the other day. Grown up mean girls hiding behind their twitter names.

But it was this article in on Crosswalk that that seemed to put it in perspective. It’s a longer article, but well-worth the read.

When I went on The Tyra Banks Show (story here) a few years ago and shared about leaving my life as a witch and becoming a Christian, I got hate mail and threats for months afterwards. They were vicious and mean-spirited and accusatory. It was the first time I had ever experienced anything like that in my life. It was really hard, and surprisingly painful. But I had support, I had friends praying for me, and most of all, I knew that the attacks were coming because I had spoken the truth.

What happened to Phoebe and so many others is that they are targeted for simply existing. Nobody deserves that.

The bottom line is that the way Jesus teaches us to walk and to be is very different than the world’s way. We shouldn’t really be surprised at the evil humans are capable of. It’s why we need a Savior. But with God inside of us, we have the opportunity, and the responsibility, to stand up for those who are being abused. We can model what real love looks like, bestow kindness even when you're the only one. It’s not easy. But by saying nothing, we help it to continue.

Be strong and courageous. The God of the Universe is on your side.

The Trouble with Glee

So it’s April Fools Day and it might be nice to have come up with some clever and fun post for today, (Google is now Topeka? huh?) but seriously, I’m just not feeling very clever! But I did read a blog the other day that made me think about something I do want to talk about.

Glee.

So first, here’s the blog post that caught my interest: Movies, Books & Teen Sex

So what does this have to do with Glee?

Confession - I was a musical theater geek in high school (we didn’t have a glee club). I didn’t play sports. I couldn’t play an instrument. But I did every theatrical show possible throughout high school and into college. And I love musicals. So when Glee premiered I was deliriously happy.

Glee has a great cast of misfit characters

(we won’t talk about how most of them are not teens, but rather twenty-somethings.)

Glee has great music and choreography.

Glee can be utterly hilarious.

(Sue has some of the best one-liners on television).

I started watching it last year, eager for each and every week. I ignored the “yuck” of the show and concentrated on what I loved about it. But as time went on, the “yuck” side grew and grew - to the point that I decided to turn it off.

I was SO frustrated. There were parts of the show I just loved. Why did they include the junk? Why did they have to ruin it?

For me, part of the problem was that my 10 year old daughter was watching it with me. My “mom” ears are more sensitive to the messages and behavior that is being encouraged. But even my regular “Sarah” ears were bothered by what was happening in front of me. This wildly popular show among teens - what is it saying?

1. The President of the Chastity Club gets pregnant - making the idea of chastity a complete joke. Actually, sexual comments are all over the show, all the time. So much so, that it accounts for most of the “yuck”. Treating sex so lightly and casually - it's damaging to the way God wants us to view it.

2. Will is married to such a witch that viewers actually want him to commit adultery with the sweet doe-eyed Emma. This is by far the most troublesome one for me. Adultery made it into the list of 10 commandments for a reason. This just makes marriage look like something disposable. The idea that "I can do anything for love and it's not wrong". Marriage shouldn’t be disposable. Ever.

3. Bullying - the Glee kids are regularly bullied and harassed, but it’s never stopped. Granted, Slushie in the face isn’t dangerous. But it feeds into that idea that those who are on the outskirts of High school society should expect to be abused. they should expect to be tormented. And with so many troubling news reports about bullying that is taking lives, well, should we be laughing about it?

4. Many of the “adults” of the show are usually portrayed as either idiots or just ineffective. I realize that books and shows for teens want to portray the teens as smarter than the adults and able to make their own decisions - but - and this is a pretty big but, adults cannot just be dismissed from the equation. Scriptures are full of examples of how important it is for one generation to mentor the next generation.

5. The lying. Oh, the lying. Morality? Practically non-existent.

The trouble with Glee?

It teaches, supports and encourages things that are absolutely against Scripture. And no show-stopping musical number can really make me forget that fact. I know there are tons of people who continue to watch the show with great excitement every week. I totally get it, and I’m not judging you for it. Me, I wanted to turn it off to be a role model for my daughter. And maybe for you too.

All I want is for you to Be Wise. I don’t think we should ever ignore the messages that the media is throwing at us every day. Messages that make us deaf to the true messages. We have to be discerning. We have to be thoughtful. And we have to make sure that we don't give this world permission to change us in ways that move us farther from the One and Only.

Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.

Philippians 4:8

So what do YOU think?

Blessings,

Sarah

Sarah Anne Sumpolec