Part 25 - Not All Of The Baby Turtles Make It

     I humbly welcome you all to Part 25 of The Rendering, Not All Of The Baby Turtles Make It.  I would like to first apologize for the tardiness of this past week's post but I got side-tracked by taxes last weekend and when I tried to post this post last night I ended up with computer issues that, for some reason, wouldn’t let me finish and post.  I am just now getting around to finishing up and posting last week’s post.  There will be two posts this weekend to catch me up.  I find it hard to believe that I have made it this far with writing this blog.  It seems like it was just yesterday that I wrote my first post and now we are on Part 25!  To that I say thank you.  I have had many ups and downs since I began, but overall this has been a very positive experience for me.  Please keep in mind that this post reflects numbers from last week.  Now, on to the post!  I am going to be a bit different this week but we will get into that in a bit.  To start off, here is this week's numbers...

      Yes folks, that is correct, there has been no change in my weight since my last weigh-in.  I won't say that I wasn't slightly disappointed when I stepped upon the scale this week because quite frankly, I had high hopes.  I have been tracking my points with my Weight Watchers program religiously and I have been exercising far more than normal.  I have been doing workout routines using free weights and resistance bands as well as continuing to compete in the 365 miles in 365 days challenge.  As of this week's post I have walked 9 miles leaving me with 356 miles left to go.  The challenge is to walk or run 365 miles over the 2014-year.  I am starting off slow because I am so not used to doing this much walking but like the tortoise in the classic "tortoise and the hare" story, slow and steady will win this race.  Not only will I meet this challenge but also I intend to CRUSH IT!  
     Yes, slightly disappointed but not discouraged.  I have to make some adjustments to what I eat.  Even though I am eating within my allowed Weight Watchers points, I think that I can make better choices in how I fill those points and that will help me shed more pounds than I currently am.  I am also keeping in mind that my progress should not be measured by the number on the scale alone but by the non-scale victories as well.  By this I mean that my clothes, more specifically my belt, are fitting looser.  I have more energy, as is obvious by my new walking routine, and my endurance seems to be improving.  As I have stated since the beginning, I will have weeks where I not only lose weight but also weeks where I break even or gain some back.  The trick is to have more losses than the other two. 

     Now, as I mentioned at the beginning of this week's post, I am doing something a bit different.  I am going to brave a subject that has bothered me for a long time.  I warn you all now that this will only, very loosely, be related to weight loss but it is rooted deep within my own personal story.  I have had my own experiences with this issue, as you have previously read, but it is recent occurrences in the media that have really lit a fuse for this issue with me.  I want to talk about the subject of "bullying" and "school shootings".  

 BULLYING

Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose.

     OK, so there you have it laid out before you in black and white, today's definition of bullying as we are teaching our children.  I have a question for those of you that read this.  In your opinion, is bullying a new thing?  Sure, I understand that there may be new delivery methods for bullies to use but honestly, is the act of bullying a new practice?  As I have talked about in previous posts, I myself have been a victim of bullying.  I endured what seemed to me to be endless taunting on several levels but mostly because of my weight.  I will admit that I chose poorly and turned to food for comfort and perhaps had I not been treated so badly by my peers and just people in general I would not have made the choice to eat as uncontrollably as I did but perhaps I would have.  What is absolutely, beyond a shadow of a doubt for sure is, I would not have EVER turned a gun on those that I was bullied by.  

     So, with all of that said, please allow me to answer my own question of "Is bullying a new thing?" by saying certainly not.  What is new however, is how we are teaching our children to deal with bullies.  I figure that as long as I was going to open this can of worms, I might as well dump them all out.  Back when I was in school I never had to worry about someone coming in, guns blazing, intent on ending lives.  Sure, there were the occasional fistfights but that was it, it ended there.  So why is it that today, in this world, do we see more and more school shootings?  There are those out there that would absolutely love us to believe that there are more shootings because there are more firearms.  There have always been guns and I know that this fact will piss off the anti-gun folks but the AR-15, which is a common firearm in many of these school shootings, was designed in 1957 so you might say these weapons have been around for a while.  I will not, however, exonerate firearm owners from all responsibility in these incidents because, as a responsible firearm owner, we all MUST take ownership of the need to properly keep any and all firearms and ammunition locked away.  Gun safes, trigger locks, and locked ammo boxes are non-negotiable.  If you legally own a weapon it is your responsibility to protect it from those that would misuse it either on purpose or accidentally.  It is also the responsibility of all parents and firearm owners that if you have a firearm in a place that also has children around, we should teach them proper firearm safety and handling procedures not just simply that it is "not to be touched".  Children are curious, and as most of you know, tend to "bend" some rules, so remember a little knowledge could save a life.

     If the guns are not the cause of these shootings then what is?  It is my opinion that we are raising up generations of children that are, for lack of a better phrase, "too soft".  I know that sounds harsh to say but I believe that if we did not coddle our children perhaps they wouldn't be so over-sensitive and could handle bullying in a different manner.  

       I have never felt the need to resolve my issues with bullies with firearms because I had some amazing parents.  They taught me several lessons that helped me to deal with bullies.  One of those lessons was that bullying is a part of life and it is going to happen.  They taught me that I had to stand up for myself.  They, by no means, advocated violence and have always taught me to stand up for myself with my words and to walk away but they also taught me that sometimes you have to physically stand up to a bully when there is no other option.  Yes, perhaps if I threw hands with a bully I would lose but perhaps, just maybe, I wouldn't and the bully would learn a lesson or even respect me. 

  “The world is not the most pleasant place.  Eventually your parents leave you and nobody is going to go out of their way to protect you unconditionally.  You need to learn to stand up for yourself and what you believe and sometimes, pardon my language, kick some ass.” 

– Queen Elizabeth II -

     In the end, yes, bullying hurts but it doesn't kill and it is our responsibility as shepherds for a new generation to teach them that killing isn't the answer to bullying.  Let's get to the root of why these shootings are happening.  We should not only teach our children to not be a "victim" and how to handle bullying but we must also teach them compassion.  I know this will be hard for some to accept but if some of our children are being bullied that means that some of our children are bullies as well.  We as adults and parents are tasked with ending these incidents from both sides.  I started this blog with the intention to show perhaps even one person that bullied me how much bullying hurt me growing up but to also show others that I survived and was made stronger for it.  Teach our children that their mind is the most powerful weapon against any bully and that misusing a firearm only brings pain and suffering but no answers. 
We must also realize that life isn’t always fair and it never will be.  Not all of the baby turtles that are born make it to the water.  There are predators all around standing between them the relative safety of the water.  I am not asking you all to accept that they don’t all make it but rather I am asking everyone to teach our children that they can make the water if they fight for it and to be ready to deal with the predators along the way.

     I know that I took a bit of a left turn here but as I said, this was on my mind for a while and this blog is going to sometimes cover odd subjects that affect me along my journey.  I will have another post for this week hopefully in a short while I hope, so I will wrap this up for now.  Remember, greater things have yet to come, greater things have yet to be done.  Please share this with all that will listen because you never know who needs a revolution to change their own lives.  VIVE LA FAT REVOLUTION!!!  Much love and may God bless you all!  To be continued...