Regina George isn't just a character in a famous Hollywood movie.... she's real. Maybe not Rachel McAdams with really long blonde hair, but she is real...

The third leading cause of deaths amongst people ages 15-24 is suicide, and more than half of those is due to bullying. Now, this is not a blog post raising awareness for the statistics of bullying, although that is something seriously real and needs to be taken seriously. This is a blog post pertaining to those who are victims of even the slightest bit of verbal bullying saying I hear ya, and it is okay.

I am one of those people in high school who has a wide range of friends. I am not just isolated in one little group of friends, and I would say that I am pretty well-known by most of the people in school. However, just because I am "known" in high school, doesn't mean that I am treated well. I am not on the homecoming court every fall, and cheering down on the sidelines every Friday night. I am known because I talk to a wide variety of people, and try to stay happy and positive all the time. Although, I am "known", I am still a minority.

I was asked by somebody the other day, "SarahAnn, why are you so happy and positive all the time? Why aren't you negative like everybody else?" WOW. As soon as they asked me that, I was thinking "you just answered your own question." I mean seriously? Why is that even a question? Why has school, and being social in general, come to the point where you are considered "weird" because you don't talk about people and bring others down all the time, just because they are not like you? I mean HELLO.

I AM SORRY, WORLD, THAT I AM NOT WHAT YOU WANT ME TO BE

I could sit here and rant about the things that I hear every day as I walk the halls of my school, because of how heartbreaking they are, just as much as I could try and sugarcoat this world and say that it is always a place that is happy and full of light, but the truth is - it is not. It has become a place filled with disaster and darkness where more people than I would like to admit are constantly brought down and depressed, because they are different and don't act like everybody else.

Here is some more serious truth, though, Christians: We are NOT supposed to be of this world.

Romans 12:2 says "Mold me, shape me, until I think like You, Lord." This is how we are supposed to live. We were not created to be like everybody else. We were created to be a living example of Christ and we were created to love so radically that we are asked why.

My girl, Taylor Swift, sang a song which says "Don't you worry your pretty little mind, people throw rocks at things that shine." Let this be your anthem when you are weary from a day of pouring into others who are pouring out of you. Quit wondering why the "mean" people always get the rewards, while you are still sitting there tired and drained out from devoting yourself to compassion.

Your reward is in heaven. It is called eternal life - love from the Creator of this world, Who is looking down on you with proud eyes. So quit wondering why you are looked at for being different, but start celebrating because you are looked at for being different.

Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.

- Psalm 34:5