A cruel hoax nearly drove a girl to suicide, but her life was saved when her town rallied around her. When bullies at her her high school voted her onto the Homecoming elite (I forget the word used in the article), and the girl learned it was only a cruel hoax to make fun of her she went from feeling elated to being devastated.
When her mother learned what had happened and informed the town and, several busineses in West Branch, MI banded together to provide a beautiful gown, beauty makeover, and more, all at no cost. They also displayed anti-bullying messages in their display windows.
One of the quotes in the article said it was like the movie “Carrie” but with a happy ending.
Way to go, West Branch, Michigan, for using kindness and visibility to diminish the scourge of bullying in your town!
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/homecoming-queen-bully-whitney-kropp-132201566.html
Russ
Russ Towne's A Grateful Man 
It never ceases to amaze me how cruel people can be. She is a lovely young lady and I am so proud of her and her mom for taking a stand. She will be Cinderella at that homecoming ball and the ugly stepsisters can hang their heads in shame at the ugliness in their souls.
Because of the kindness shown by the town to the bullied girl, I feel more sorry for the bullies in this case than for her. It must be horrible stumbling around in the dark when there is so much beauty, light, joy, and kindness all around them.
May their eyes and hearts be opened by this experience. I believe that within each of them a beatiful spirit aches to bring love and warmth into their world and ours, but it is buried in layers of ignorance, self-loathing, critical and cynical judgments, selfishness, and similar dark debris.
May kindness be shown to these bullies, and may it begin to enlighten them–literally bring light to their world as well as to lighten their load of debris that weighs on and hides their spirit.
Darkness never drives away darkness. It takes light to do that. May they see the light and may it guide them to lasting joy and inner peace.
You are right…thank you for reminding me that everyone deserves God’s grace. Blessings! Patty
That was gracious of you, my friend. I too learn form you. Thank you for being in my life, Patty.
Blessing to you and all your loved ones,
Russ
Thank you Russ – Gods blessings to you and your family as well.
Karma is a you-know-what…and I’m sure the bullies will certainly find that out in time!
I believe they are already living in a version of a hell on Earth and I hope for everyone’s sake that they learn from this mistake and that the lesson that they learn forever makes them kinder people.
Amen to that. Must be a miserable existence that makes people act like that. Certainly the absence of God for sure!
I beliee that no matter how badly bullies feel toward others they feel even worse about themselves.
I just don’t understand what joy people can get from being so cruel. I’m so glad this town helped this girl and that her mum was aware of the problem and stepped in.
Yes, strength and kindness averted a near-tragedy. May we all learn the lesson that there is always something we can do to help if we act before it is too late. Bullies can only keep bullying when the crowd allows, enables, or encourages it. That is true on school grounds and it is true with nations. The cost of bullying to the bullies has got to be made to be much greater than the reward they get for doing so. At the global level the risk of being accused of committing crimes against humanity appear to me to be starting to have a tangible positive effect on decisions being made by at least some of the people who are inclined to slaughter people. I believe that at least in some cases massacres have been avoided as a result. Humanity has a long way to go before we become truly humane but I see progress being made.
Heard this on KLOVE radio yesterday! I just can’t understand why people bully. One of my many prayers for my girls is that they are not bullied, and that they are not bullies. So we read David and Goliath a lot and I tell them Goliath was a big bully, and bully are not nice lol.
You are wise to pray that your girls are neither bullied nor bullies. Some parents forget the second half of the equation. Sometimes it may be because they are bullies themselves, but I believe that it is often out of ignorance or denial that their children could ever be bullies.
What a happy ending to something that started out as a cruel joke…Parents can have so much influence on their children as they grow if only they would…Diane
Yes. It does make me wonder as to what type of parents bullies have. I suspect that often bullies have bullies for parents and that is the only behavior modeling they experience. In such cases others must step in to break the cycle and show bullies a healthier way to live.
I have seen bullies turn their lives around through experiences where their actions were seen as and dealt with, as a cry for help. The only way we can stop the cycle of violence and abuse, is to not enable it with knee jerk reactions of condemnation. We will never see an end to it otherwise.
I agree. It is wise to help the bullied, and to address the root causes of bullying. Bullying bullies is likely to just perpetuate the problem. But step one in my judgment is to step in and stop bullying as it occurs, then deal with the root causes.
Exactly. If we recognize where the hostility comes from…it’s a step in the right direction. Most often, they are abused themselves…everyone deserves a closer look, to say the least.
Good points. Thank you for your comments, Rhonda.
Russ