Desiree Andrews is a middle schooler at Lincoln Middle School in Kenosha, WI, where she is a member of the cheerleading squad. Desiree is a bright, bubbly young girl who loves to cheer and dance--Desiree has Down Syndrome.
At a recent game, Desiree was cheering for the boys basketball team when a heckler began jeering and bullying her. The boys on the team responded in short order. They walked off the court, confronted the heckler, and asked their coach to make sure the bullying didn't continue.
"The kids in the audience were picking on Dee, so we all stepped forward," said player Chase Vazquez.
“So when I heard they were talking about her like, it kind of like made me mad," said teammate Miles Rodriguez.
“It’s not fair when other people get treated wrong because we’re all the same. We’re all created the same. God made us the same way," said yet another player, Scooter Terrien.
It sounds like that basketball coach is building more than b-ball skills into his team--he's building character.
The boys of Lincoln Middle School basketball team were not content to stand by and watch as another of God's precious children was bullied, ridiculed and maligned. It took great courage (and great restraint), but they did the right thing the right way -- they stepped forward and stood up for her.
We can all take a lesson out of this team's playbook. Don't stand back when others need our support or defense.
Step forward!
"Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause" (Isaiah 1:17, ESV).
"Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy" (Proverbs 31:8-9, ESV)
"For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!" (Ecclesiastes 4:10, ESV).
The Tampa Bay Tribune reports:
Two girls have been arrested in the death of a 12-year-old Lakeland girl who authorities said committed suicide after being bullied by several girls for nearly a year.
Polk Sheriff Grady Judd said the girls, ages 14 and 12, faces charges of felony aggravated stalking that resulted in the Sept. 9 suicide of Rebecca Ann Sedwick, who jumped to her death from a tower at an abandoned concrete plant.
Most of the harassment came in the form of hateful messages posted and broadcast on social media sites.
“We have to stop this,” Judd said. “As a child I was told sticks and stones can break your bones but words can never hurt me. … Today's words stick because they're printed. And words are as hurtful - and sometimes more hurtful - as sticks and stones.”
The hateful words of the two charged teens literally plunged young Rebecca to her death, no less than had the offenders climbed that tower and physically pushed her off.
Words are weapons. They are no less potent than the power of a sharp sword or speeding bullet.
"Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits" (Proverbs 18:21). "The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit" (Proverbs 15:4). "With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered" (Proverbs 11:9). "Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from the plots of evildoers. They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim cruel words like deadly arrows" (Psalm 64:2-3).
"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen" (Ephesians 4:29).