Last week I helped to silence a very big spectre from my past. Well I did it! Today, I went to the public library and the junior high school of the town where I experienced so much bullying between the ages of ten and thirteen and gave them both a copy of "He Was Weird." In both cases, the librarian and the school secretary were very welcoming towards my donation of the books and both graciously thanked me, accepting the books. In the case of the librarian, it turned out that she lived in Ireland for twenty years and is a staunch Man Utd supporter. So most of our conversation was about English football. While we didn't talk about soccer, the school secretary was just as friendly in taking my book. As a result, when I drove away, I had a strong sense of mission accomplished. None of the worries about beauracracy or people being awkward by hiding behind officialdom or my biggest worries about someone discovering that I am talking about their town never materialised.
For the next few hours, I was inwardly chastising myself for getting all worried over nothing. Then I realised, if I didn't get all worked up, that wouldn't be me and I would have gone the other extreme and possibly would have been caught unawares. Furthermore, there is still the chance that someone in that town will discover that the book is about them and mount a quest to take my scalp. Yes, that is a small worry but while I am prepared for it, I am not going to lose any sleep worrying about it.
All in all, mission accomplished. There are now two copies of "He Was Weird" installed in the town which influenced me to write the book. Most likely, no one will ever figure out that the story is based on me and my horrific sufferings of bullying in that town. Most hopefully, when someone reads it, they will come to realise that they must never ever let such things happen in their town. That itself would be a victory in my mind.
