A Silence To Remember

11:00 p.m.

I slipped into my heavy coat, stepped out the front door of our house, and looked up into the dark sky filled with giant white snowflakes floating downward. All around me was a beautiful sparkling white blanket covering our yards, bushes, and sidewalks. A wonderful sense of peacefulness seemed to surround me as I opened my mouth to take in a few of the snowflakes floating by.

A smile spread across my face as my mind recalled all the times that I played in the snow after dark; and then my memories traveled back to a night nearly 5 decades earlier. It was a time when we had little food nor many of the nice things in life - we were poor!

My father would come home from his day job around 5 o’clock, eat his meager dinner, and leave the house to go work at a second job until midnight. Our car wouldn't start in the cold air, so he walked the entire way through the frozen snow. To this day, I can still picture him walking down the middle of the snow covered road huddled up as best he could to stay warm as the steam from his breath disappeared behind him.

Four or five hours later, Dad would walk back into the house totally exhausted, but ready to do it all again the next day.

At first, I thought my father was trying to earn a few more dollars to buy us some extra groceries. Instead, he was working the extra hours to buy me a winter coat. It was the only present that would be given in our home that year.

So... here I stand today in this wonderful moment of peacefulness - grateful for all my father's sacrifices and a very special coat.

Comments

TELL US MORE ABOUT YOU

I was at a community author talk not too long ago for aspiring authors, when a young lady in the middle of the room raised her hand, "Would you tell us more about your background? What were the influences or experiences in your life that led to your writing?" I smiled at the request, looked down at my feet for a brief moment, and nodded my head in silence. "So many," I answered, "so very many!" I was born in a small rural community in the Pacific Northwest. Our small one-bedroom home was situated just a stone's throw from the banks of the Snake River. Being an only child, I slept in the basement next to the warm coal furnace. During our freezing winters, this was an ideal place to have bed. It was at this time, my mother took me to the library for the very first time. I stared at the rows of books in disbelief and excitement. My very first picture book book was one about dinosaurs. This love of books would later include Mark Twain's cha...

The Ghost of Lizard's Rock

Writing The Ghost Of Lizard's Rock Shona Anderson and I first began writing in 2011 a new book series called the ‘ Cow Pie Gang ’. As leaders in education & bully prevention in our home countries of the United States and Canada, we recognized the need for books written for tweens (ages 11-14) and the issues confronting them in the 21 st century such as growing up, developing friendships, bullying, death, divorce, and so much more. Four books later, the ‘ Cow Pie Gang’ series has been adopted for use in thousands of classrooms in the United States, Canada, and five other countries. This is the series parents want their children to read or hear.

BULLY AND THE BYSTANDER

by J Richard Knapp First, bystanders may be afraid to get involved. These people fear becoming the new target of the bully or even getting hurt while defending the victim. Second, some bystanders are confused and unsure what to do - so in turn they do nothing at all. Bystanders need a plan of what to do. These bystanders may choose to disassociate themselves with the victim, which may result in deep feelings of guilt . Third, some bystanders are actually rewarding the behavior of the bully and support the incident which is occurring. These individuals need to be held accountable for their behavior. It is not unusual for these witnesses to blame the victim and attempt to vindicate the bully. I am often concerned about some anti-bully advocates telling the bystander to intervene on behalf of the victim. This is easier to suggest rather than do. Imagine the courage it would take to stand up for someone you view as strange or a 'loser' . Intervention takes ...

J Richard Knapp

Search This Blog