R.H. Snow's Blog, page 24

BE THE HERO

Bruce Dern outright murdering John Wayne in ‘The Cowboys’ and NO, I am NOT over it

Bullying happens because there are no Heroes to stop them.

You don't 'choose to be the Victim' - that's a lie adults tell to justify their inaction. Bullies choose you because they are allowed to be Bullies - and you can only go with the flow and decide that if you survive, you will become the Hero you needed.

My Father was a Freelancer who worked for Government contractors. We moved every year or so; social isolation was a part of the price we paid for being an adventurous family. But there one place during my 6th grade year that made me who I am today -

Let's just it call it AnyTown.

AnyTown was a small mid-midwestern town of around 4000 people. Not particularly conservative or religious, the community's claim to fame lay in simply being from AnyTown - and I was not from AnyTown.

I am sure I appeared very different to them; short and not particularly pretty, I looked and sounded like a Texas gnome, and I acted like, well, me. I really didn't talk much, because I had learned that therein lay danger; so I came to the assumption that if I just didn't talk to people, I wouldn't get noticed enough to be bullied.

I was wrong. An absolutely adorable All-American Sports-Star Super-Girl named Robin noticed me sitting in the back being weird...

What followed was the year from hell.

Through a series of spy-level communications, Robin commanded her 6th Grade Mafia in a manner that would have made Don Corleone weep. She sent hand-written notes detailing how I was to be dealt with, where and when, and of course, the why. I was never told why. I was only punched, pummelled and relentlessly mocked.

Bullies don't want you to change, you see - they need you to remain the hated object, so you can justify their existence.

It wasn't hard to see why. They were bored. Recess was a flat playground with little to offer but the wide open plains of predation and the classroom was a windowless fluorescent-light prison. Even Lunch was a joyless affair, a boy-girl-boy-girl seated speechless wasteland governed by a soulless red-light green-light stoplight on the wall, eternally stuck on red.

I was entertainment.

I didn't tell my parents. The teacher did notice, a lovely young Barbie-like apparition beloved by the class, who suggested I should try to fit in. Since I was doing poorly in math, I decided I really didn't want my parents to talk to the teacher, so I kept my mouth shut. I bided my time picking flowers on the gravel playground and talking to the only girl who would talk to me, another shortie named Jackie. Jackie kept me sane, and we became friends as much as was possible in that lock-up known as AnyTown Elementary.

Then the mob attacked.

We were running laps around the concrete playground at PE. I of course was coming in at an abysmal dead last, and I didn't care. I was looking at the sky, hoping for a tornado to end it all, when I was pushed from behind by the biggest boy in class -

"Get out of the way."

I fell, and skinned my knee. I looked up, and saw a circle of approximately forty children gathering, but they didn't look like children; they had the aspect of executioners. I looked to the teachers, standing, watching, and assumed they would come to my rescue -

Robin grabbed ahold of my ponytail and pulled me off the ground. "Fight me." A head taller than me, and built like all 6th grade softball queens, she had a definite advantage. I knew a diplomatic answer would be best: "But I don't want to fight you..."

I looked to the teachers again. But they just stood and watched; I was baffled. I had always heard teachers would not allow children to get hurt. Instead, they gathered to their own little corner to watch, talking and whispering. They were rewarded with a show fit to please, as Robin proceeded to whip me around like rag doll by my ponytail.

I of course went limp as usual.

I was lying on the ground. And I wasn't really mad - I couldn't figure out why it was happening. It made no sense. There were no heroes coming to my rescue, no adult to stop the fight, and I wasn't going to win, no matter what I did - but I could at least die with dignity, like my Hero, John Wayne in the Cowboys.

I stood up to face Robin, and she broke my nose with a brutal straight punch. I went down again, bleeding... and Robin and the group laughed and walked away.

Then I stood up again. "Come back and fight me! I'm not done..." but Robin and the group just walked away, because they didn't have to give me anything.

I walked myself to the bathroom, saw my broken nose, then took myself to the Nurse's station. No teacher talked to me, no adult except for the Principal, and he suggested that maybe I didn't belong here in AnyTown.

I told my parents I fell at school. They didn't find out until Jackie told her parents, and her parents told mine...

then the Mafia came for Jackie. They did the same thing to her that they did to me, because adults made it possible. Adults watched, adults did nothing, because they were all living with the Bullies of AnyTown.

I was still friends with Jackie, but Robin's minions warned me away with a written note: "Don't talk to Jackie..." I told my parents she was being bullied, and they told hers. My Father forbid me to go to any school functions, and we moved later that year.

I feel guilty for leaving Jackie behind in that hellhole. I'd like to think I helped Jackie, but I don't know - I wonder what happened to her. I prayed for her, but I was so, so glad to be gone.

In the end, I never found out why they hated me. It never mattered. Haters are going to hate. Bullies are going to bully. They will abuse until they win, unless someone more powerful than them stops them. And that day was the day I decided -

I was going to be that someone.

If I could, I'd find Jackie, and thank her for being my one friend, and I hope she made it out alive. If I could, I'd find Robin, and tell her I pray for her each night and I thank God for the experience of seeing why the world needs Heroes -

be the Hero.

YOU CAN'T TAKE the SKY FROM ME

⛈️Trees down again

⛈️Power out again

⛈️More Storms again

💖BUT 💖

You can't take the Sky from me✨

WIDE AS THE TEXAS SKY: WESTERN ANVIL - Limestone County Texas , 7:07PM #txwx

R. H. Snow’s Deep Thoughts from the Dubble-wide of D00m is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

TERRAN TUESDAYS: RELIGION in Fantasy and SciFi

TERRAN TUESDAYS: RELIGION in Fantasy and SciFi: Another fantastic #IronAge foray into the sensitive subject of Religion in our Writings! Join James Esparza from , of StarShatter and of WATCHER of the DAMNED as we delve into the Force, Fear and Black Knight's own experience with Faith under a Communist Regime...

https://youtube.com/live/imT8-6aJS88?feature=shared…

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OMGOSH Y'ALL - GO STORM SPOTTING WITH ME in the DARK! Hunt the Beast, Hear the Roar...

R. H. Snow’s Deep Thoughts from the Dubble-wide of D00m is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

WIDE as the TEXAS SKY: TORNADO WARNED THUNDERHEAD:

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WIDE as the TEXAS SKY: TWILIGHTNING

WIDE as the TEXAS SKY: TWILIGHTNING Limestone County Texas, 8:15PM

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FOLKLORE in FANTASY on TERRAN TUESDAY!🔥

YaY It's FOLKLORE and FANTASY WRITING on Terran Tuesday! Slavic Stories, Mexican Magic and Texas Tales!

GO WATCH NOW - CLICK HERE OR CLICK PIC BELOW!

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MARS NEEDS ICE CREAM

In the predawn darkness, a Cow watched the horizon with limpid, dewy eyes. It wasn't that Emoolia hadn't seen a space launch before... it was she wanted to go on one.

The other cows were not amused.

"This is not very cow-like." Lolita lowed at her over the fescue clumps. "You need to be more aware of your physical limitations. You'd probably just explode in space."

Emoolia said nothing, but simply stared placidly at the launch pad, watching crews load containers bound for Mars. The Cow's glossy black and white coat gleamed in the dawning sun, giving her a heroic visage, face into the wind, hay between her square teeth.

"You are too enamoured with the poetry of John McGee, Emoolia." Moolan complained. "You think you would be 'breaking the surly bonds of earth' to touch the face of God, when in reality you can do the same here while eating a cabbage."

Emoolia paid no mind.

"She shouldn't have been reading it over the Rancher's shoulder. " A little heifer trotted by, tossing her head and swishing her tail. "That's just rude...."

"I agree entirely, Mooshi. That Rocket base has been a bad influence." Lowlita snuffled through a mouthful of grass. "Emoolia hasn't been the same since it was built. She just keeps staring at it."

Ignoring her haters, Emoolia gazed into the distance, watching with calm interest as a sleek silver car pulled up to park on the nearby county road. A dark-haired man in a simple tshirt and bluejeans exited to stand just outside the vehicle, admiring the view and taking photographs.

"That's the owner. We need to say something now, or forever be silent." Casting an accusing glance over her shoulder at a Majestic Holstein Bull, Moolan mumbled into her hay: "I'd wait for His Majesty, Sir Loin, to make a formal complaint, but he's too busy making calves. Follow me, Ladies..."

Bells ringing, the cattle made their way through the field to the fence, staring into the Texas sunrise. Bermuda grass waved in the fresh spring breeze, beckoning to be eaten, but the herd had other plans...

There was still much milk to be made, but they felt it important enough to glare through the barbed wire and moo. After much jostling and occasional pushing, Moolan huffed, satisfied. "I believe they heard us. We have made our presence known; we shall try again tomorrow. Let's head back to the barn; I hear ranch cubes hitting a feedbin -"

they turned back toward the comfort of the barn, following their leader. Moolan trotted faster, hearing the ranch cubes rattle, only to be stopped by a moo-squawk from Lowlita:

"Oh my stars and garters, Emoolia has jumped the fence!"

Emoolia was trotting away, hay trailing from her mouth, headed towards the silver car and the mysterious dark-haired man...

TO BE CONTINUED??

please blame @dangainor - thank you

UNBOXING BRIAN MCCOPPIN'S 'RECORD of the PALADINS'

R. H. Snow’s Deep Thoughts from the Dubble-wide of D00m is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

WIDE as the TEXAS SKY: LIGHTSHOW - Limestone County Texas, 2:40AM, 05/16/24

R. H. Snow’s Deep Thoughts from the Dubble-wide of D00m is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.