Monday, November 1, 2010

The Power of a Punk

Several years ago I was trying to teach my children the value of gratitude and, being the creative scrapper that I am, I just had to incorporate some fun art supplies in the process.  So, I pulled out my Sizzix (yes, this was before I owned my Wishblade) and cut a whole stack of angels.  Every night, we would write something we were grateful for on an angel and then decorate it and hang it up around our home.

Since Thanksgiving is coming up soon, I thought I'd give it a whirl right here on my blog.  So, in that spirit, I'm going to tell you a story that will probably infuriate you.  Unfortunately, it is true.

A few weeks ago, the four of us (my hubby, the two kiddos and I) were coming out of the grocery store.  We were in a hurry to get to the camp out and we were rushing to our truck when we heard this punk mouth off to my husband.

Yes, a punk had the audacity to start yelling insults at my husband because he is in the military and because he is bald.  No, we hadn't done anything to him.  We were merely walking to our truck.

As mad as that made me at the time, I am so grateful it happened now.  Weird, huh?  Well, as I said before, our kids were with us.  Normally, that kind of thing would be something you wouldn't want your kid to have to see.  Yet, this time, it was a good thing.

You see, Bryce got bullied severely last year in school and this year, there is a different boy who has been trying to harass him.  We've always taught Bryce the power of forgiveness and to walk away from trouble.  We're just doing our best to raise good Christians.  Yet, there comes a time when you just have to stand up for yourself.

That is just what my husband did right there in the parking lot of the grocery store.  He did not throw any punches.  He did not utter any bad words.  He merely stood up to the punk (who was at least a foot taller than my husband) and the punk backed down immediately.  Our kids saw the whole thing.

Now, my son has stood up to this latest bully who promptly ran home as fast as he could.  No punches were thrown.  No bad words uttered.

And I am so very grateful.

Until next time, Happy Creative Time!

5 comments:

Sue aka barracudasue said...

Great story, Ileana and I'm also grateful that Bryce learned something from it. What a wonderful teachers you both must be to your children for them to actually learn from this! God bless you both!ingsha

Anonymous said...

Good for both your men! Games

Anonymous said...

What a fantastic scenario to teach your children! You are an amazing teacher to make it that teaching moment in the situation.

Lisa Avolio said...

Hooray for ALL of you! What a wonderful outcome.

Elizabeth said...

Your right it does infuriate me to hear of someone mouthing off to an honorable person like your husband. i have much respect for him doing what he does. It is very hard to leave your family behind while he goes off to do what is asked of him.
Good to hear your son stood up to this bully, very proud of him and knowing he did the right thing by not mouthing off, bad words or punches. They do no good anyway just shows the ignorance. Anyway, I cannot stand bullies but we have had that conversation.