The next installment of the People of the Second Chance's Never Beyond campaign is out. It speaks of Americans labeling all Muslims under the sins of Osama Bin Laden. The cool thing is that POTSC is dealing with labels as well.
I decided a year ago (2010), when I was planning to go to my 25th high school reunion, that I was going to stop caring about what my former classmates thought of me and I decided I was going to have a good time. You see, I was labeled from back to elementary school. I had a big nose, my mother was fat (that came back to haunt me when my own son’s classmates said the same thing about me), I was a goody-goody, a spoiled only child, nosey, and the labels continued.
The two biggest bullies, S.T. and L.S., made my life hell from middle school through 10th grade. This kid, that I really didn’t know, told these girls that I said something about him, which, of course, I didn’t. And they took up the fight for him with words and physical confrontation. It was a pretty scary thing because I was not a fighter. They were shocked when I actually threw the first punch after being slapped at and the fighting stopped. But the name calling and terrorizing didn’t.
Back to the class reunion…I have to say that Facebook has been a healing place where my friends and I could put aside our childish, petty thoughts and start to finally get to know each other. What came from the reunion and getting face-to-face was healing and friendships. Needless to say, I had a great time at the reunion. But, it was because I was willing to forgive the childhood hurts and give my tormenters a second chance. I have tried to find my biggest tormentors, S.T. and L.S., but haven’t been able to determine where they are. I did forgive them a long time ago and while we might never become best friends, I would be willing to give them a second chance. Who would you give a second chance?
When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever–faith, hope, and love–and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:11-13
Originally posted 11/6/2011