I was a special education teacher for twenty-five wonderful years. When I retired I wrote my memoir, Special Needs Children The Angels On My Shoulder. I’d always had a heart for children, animals, the earth and those in need. Where did it come from?As a child I remember being around nine and witnessing bullying. A little girl with special needs, who would be diagnosed as a child with Down’s Syndrome today, rode her bike past school each morning. She was not allowed in regular public school in those years. Other children were laughing and calling her names and it made me hurt for her. Wondering why she wasn’t in school and why they were mean to her was embedded in my heart. I knew even then I would never be mean like those kids were.
Now that I am a grandmother, and a writer, I reflect on the makeup of people in our world. Some have the hearts for others and some are the bullies of the world. Why? The bullies teach us how not to be, I know that for sure. Yet, why can’t they change or can they? In our warring world today, where bullying by politicians and others is accepted as near normal, . we must keep loving, keep caring and keep on. The children of the world are watching how we handle life day by day. There is a theory that those bullying adults have been bullied themselves and their jealousy and rage come from childhood experiences and the lack of love.
When I write my novels there is always a bully character who has an awakening and changes his or her ways to good in the end. This is what I pray for. This is why I write. Because as I say and write frequently, the bully never wins. Loving our children and helping them learn how to treat others, that’s the winning way. Being a champion for our innocent children, this is love’s triumph! Ask the angels because even the thought of them inspires me with hope and determination.
