For the second straight year, Sari and I got to participate in an anti-bullying, self-awareness event at the High School in town. It is called "Challenge Day" and it is run by a group from southern California. If you ever hear about it coming to your town, get involved. They need adult leaders from the community to make it work. It is a powerful day.
I was absolutely shocked at what some of those kids are going through and what they have had to endure.
I was also shocked to see the "Big tough guy" in my group, who would not talk about anything at the beginning of the day, open up and tell us what he is scared of and how he really feels.
I was shocked that the pretty, smiley girl who sat beside me, within an hour, was bawling and talking about how hard things are at home... how her parents' marriage is on the rocks and how lonely she feels (I would never have guessed any of that by looking at her at the start of the day).
I was shocked too at how close I felt to a bunch of 15 year old grade nine kids at the end of the day.
In many ways, the caring, the openness, the love and the compassion felt like what I think church should feel like (but too often doesn't).
People - no matter who they are, how old they are, how "put together" they look - all need love and support... maybe more than you will ever realize. You can be the solution to that problem just by really caring and daring to get involved.
This video was shot somewhere else, but it looks exactly like our day yesterday.
If you ever get the chance, go do it! You will be glad you did! (Or - just start doing it. You don't need a program to care about each other)
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