Ask Elnora--About mean people??? Lenora Worth

Hello, beautiful people. Elnora is a bit perturbed today. I'm sure you all saw the news stories regarding the You Tube video that showed children on a school bus bullying an older lady named Karen who was the bus monitor person. This was painful to watch but this happens a lot all over the world. While bullying has been around since God created the earth, we now have access to such things all the time, thanks to modern technology. We see a lot of things that we probably aren't supposed to see so sometimes it feels as if there is a big eye onto the world. But some of the things we aren't supposed to see are the very things we need to see. Bullying a grandma ranks right up there with stepping on Santa's toes and kicking the Easter bunny. We shouldn't do that. That got Elnora to thinking about our stories. In our stories, our characters fight the good fight--against injustice, crime, wrongs that need to be right and yes, bullies. In our LIS books, we allow our characters to fight the bad guys who try to run the world through intimidation and threats. We show heroes who really are just good people trying to make their way in life. We show strong women who learn to defend themselves and the ones they love. (I recently read Margaret Daley's "Shattered Justice". Her heroine was such a woman. She stood up to bullies.)Even Scarlett in "Gone With the Wind" was willing to fight to protect her family from mean people. I'm sure we've all read books that make us cheer for the heroine and applaud the hero. It's kind of like "Dirty Harry" without being so dirty. Readers love strong characters who portray values and justice and doing what's right. We even try to give our villains some redeeming qualities, and while our characters shouldn't be perfect and squeaky clean, they always have a soul and a good heart. In the end, they try to make decisions that are thoughtful and redemptive. We don't demand super-heroes. We only need characters who want to make the world a better place. Why can't real life be so simple? When a father cries after hearing his son call an older woman names and taunt her, we know something has gone wrong in the world. This made me think--that must be how God feels when he sees one of His children being cruel to another human being. In a world where such things happen, it's a comfort to know our stories do make a difference. We can help people to heal with our words. We can show women that yes, they can be strong. We all have a choice in life. We can fight the good fight and be kind to others instead of being mean and cruel. I'm glad I have the ability to write books that show that choice over and over. So ... let's discuss--what can we do to overcome bullies in this world? It's a serious subject, but we can discuss it with our hearts open to the possibilities. Now, Elnora moves on to a more fun topic. We are having a mystery party with several of our writers involved. The fun starts Sunday, June 25th but I'm going to give you the link today. It's not active yet but will go live late Sunday night. I hope you enjoy traveling the web to find all of the clues. You'll make some interesting discoveries along the way, too: Link to Love Inspired Suspense Mystery Beach Party: http://community.harlequin.com/showthread.php/336-Love-Inspired-Suspense-Mystery-Beach-Party