When I was a child witches were the demonic devils in faerie tales.
I was terrified of the old lady up the block who looked like Margaret Hamilton.
Witches, witchcraft and witchery were to be feared, and I was frightened.
Harvey Comics changed it up when they introduced us to Wendy Witch.
Wendy was kind and compassionate, she wanted to make friends.
She was a soft-hearted upstander who stood up for other people.
This was a new witch, a witch I wanted to know better.
She changed things up in my head, and I looked up witchcraft.
Witchcraft is not Satan’s workshop, it is gardening, it is herbs, it is awareness.
“To no one do harm” is the witch’s creed.
Who were these men who wanted us to fear witches?
Possibly jealous men who did not know how to garden.
I thank Harvey Comics for my mind shift regarding witches.
And Wendy Witch of course!
Mr. Gee’s ears perked up at the sound of the ticking time clock.
He held it for another second, another foot step, another block.
Was it a bomb? Would he be blown to smithereens in a bit?
Throw it! A bystander yelled. Toss it in the river! Get rid of it!
But Mr. Gee was the quintessential risk taker. Not ready to unload it.
Someone he trusted had given it to him to take care of, and he would.
An upstander yelled “Save yourself, Mr. Gee!” He was having a fit.
The rabbit held on to it, listening, hoping it was safe, for as long as he could.
BOOM!
There was a cute witch with a heart of gold.
She always wanted to please which never got old.
She was pretty and smart. A happy child too.
When she was around no one was blue.
If zombies or goblins or mummies were about.
They minded their manners, were certainly no lout.
Because she had made friends of all of them in the gully.
They knew better to tease, torment or bully.
She was an upstander. She stood up and asked people to stop
If they tried to be mean to anybody, she made them drop.
They would have to do a thousand pushups and apologize.
That’s a lot, and they had to do it before the next sunrise.
So the ones who did not get it for a while were awfully thin.
They had to do those pushups again and again.
But the ones who understood used words of polite.
At least until upstander cute witch was way out of sight.
bullies
hurting feelings
making fun of people
bystanders who add selves to fray
are the frightened victims of tomorrow
be a supportive upstander
stand up for the victim
don’t hurt feelings
bullies
Up-standers ask a bully to please stop.
But not in a bullying voice.
Understand?
Head nod.
Down-standers join the bully.
They call the victim names too
Scared they will be the next target if they do not.
Cowards.
By-standers stand by,
Trying to ignore what is happening, feeling badly later
Wishing they had been an up-stander.
So what do you want to be?
An Up-Stander, a Down-Stander or a By-Stander?
“I want to be a run-a-way-er,” he said, demonstrating.
Courage is to stand up for another
On social media,
To ask the coward to delete
The mean
To not show the victim
For feelings might not crush
Or crucify her
If she is never told
Resist the urge to be cruel
Or mean
Little bullies are
Usually tormented
By big bullies
Unseen
Do not go along
Be an up-stander
Retain your integrity
It may never
Be revealed how
Many you
Will be
Saving
You
Owe it
To yourself
To be an up-stander
By-standers are often
The next target