I used to be picked on when I was a little kid, mostly every day, and mostly because I was cute and talented, and in many instances, cuter and more talented than any of the other kids, especially the other little boys, the bullies, who were always jealous of me because I had all the little girls after me.
As a result, every day I would be called dreadful names or be physically assaulted in some way.
But through it all, there was my Mom, who would stick up for me and do my battles for me.
And when I would want to fight back, she would say, “Don’t you dare, Herbie J. Don’t you be like them. Don’t dirty your hands.”
Then, one day, the bullying got so bad, that my Mom went across the street to the house where not one but two bullies lived - they were brothers. Yes, I was double-teamed against. But then my Mom demanded to speak to their mother. In tears, she cried and said to the other Mom, “My son can’t walk down the street without one of your sons making a remark or picking up on him in some way. I want it to stop!”
My usually docile, never-bothered-anybody Mom was now standing firm in her faith; practicing what she always preached; realizing that Love was not a doormat; and not being lukewarm, but confirming that sometimes it’s okay to be hot under the collar, especially when it came to the protection of the son she loved.
So, as my Mom stood there, furious and in tears, the message was clear: “Don’t mess with my son.”
Sadly, Mom is gone today, and incredible as it may seem, there are still the adult bullies of the world who attack me today; the mean-spirited, the insecure bullies who make an easy target of good-hearted souls like myself who they envy. But they don’t envy me because of my talents; they envy me because of my sincerity, which scares them. They are so busy being insincere in their everyday lives, that they simply do not understand sincerity when they see it; and in order for them to make themselves “okay,” they feel the need to lash out at the sincere for being sincere.
And that’s okay. I forgive them. As we should all forgive anyone who hurts us.
If we don’t, then we become like them. We “dirty our hands,” as my Mom would say.
And that’s just not productive.
We just have to be at peace in knowing that the bullies of the world...are hurting…and dealing with their jealousies; their lack of self-worth and inability to be sincere.
They try to take the good-hearted with character assassinations, and the good-hearted have no choice to all allow this: the good-hearted and sincere can’t lash out…because the more they lash out the weaker they will appear.
So the good-hearted just have to let Love and Forgiveness and the all good Moms on Earth and in Heaven do the battling.
It’s what Love, and Forgiveness, and Heaven and Moms were made for.
