Bully-Free Zone

Because God has no room for Bullies.

Bullies!  Sometimes they seem to be everywhere - at school, in sport, on Facebook - you can't get away from them.

Well here at the Lara Uniting Church we are united about one thing in particular.  No Bullying.

When you are being bullied, it is hard to get away from them - and even telling someone can be difficult.  We can be frightened or fearful in case no-one believes us, or worried about what the bully might do if we talk to others.  We might even feel that, in some way, we deserve to be bullied.

This is exactly what the bullies want.  They want you to be isolated, on your own.  They want you to stay a victim.  They want to stay in control of you.  They even want you to bully yourself.

But it doesn't have to be like that.  I know, because I was bullied.  Many of the people I know were bullied.  Some of us were lucky because we had help - sometimes a big brother, sometimes the influence of others.  I was influenced by Doctor Who!  How's that?  But it is true.

The first thing is to know this - you are not on your own.  That might be what the bullies want you to think but it is not true.  You can talk to parents, teachers, friends - people at our church.  There is are even websites set up especially for you to talk to others:

Take a Stand Together	Kids Help Line
www.takeastandtogether.gov.au/	http://www.kidshelp.com.au/

The second thing is that you are important and valuable.  Don't ever let anyone bully you into thinking otherwise.  Even if you feel insignificant, useless, helpless or even a failure - it is not true.  God knows most about what your future may hold and bullies know the least.    You deserve to be loved, to be respected, to be given the chance to be the best that you can.  Anyone who wants to take that away has the biggest problem.  

And never give up.

If your friends can't or wont help then talk to your parents.  If they can't see the problem or can't help then talk to your teachers.  If you fear to do that, then hop online above - they really can be a life line, and you do deserve a life, a good life, whatever you or anyone else may think.  Talk to someone - you don't need to handle it alone.  Even the cops are not as daunting as they seem.  Most of them are actually quite human - fathers, brothers, mothers, sisters, friends.

Liam Payne, Tyra Banks, Steven Spielberg, Kate Winslet, Tom Cruise, David Beckham, Michael Phelps, Eva Mendes, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, Jessica Alba, Sandra Bullock - the world would have been a very different place without these people - and yet they were all bullied and all, at times, thought that perhaps the world would be better off without them.

You might be the next Steven Spielberg.