Unqualified Evaluators came about when I witnessed a child being bullied in my daughter's elementary school for having a problem that she could not help. I found myself saying, "Why the cruelty? Where is the compassion and understanding? Why outcast this child?" To my dismay, other children's parents shunned this little girl for having a physical problem. After befriending and getting to know her, it broke my heart that this girl had to face this kind of prejudice every day at school. The weight of this prejudice must have had an enormous impact on her self-esteem affecting her for a lifetime perhaps.
After hearing about other children being bullied and reading and hearing about countless others on Oprah and in newspapers, magazines, and on tv, I began to formulate an idea to help these children. Because most of them are away from home when they are bullied, I wanted them to have something to hold or wear as support to remind them that they had done nothing wrong to deserve this bullying and that they were not alone. I wanted them to feel empowered with the knowledge that bullies don't like themselves and transfer these negative feelings about themselves onto others. I thought if they had a mirror as a symbol to remind them that the bully/bullies are talking about themselves when they put down others and reflecting back to themselves their own self-loathing that the abused person would gather strength and self-esteem from that. Now knowing that it isn't them who has the problem. The heart is symbolic to remind the wearer that they deserve love, and the words "Unqualified Evaluators" are to reinforce the truth that no-one has the right or qualifications to evaluate or judge you, ever.
Since that time, I have read and heard about the bullying epidemic in this country and I'm sure it exists around the world. Not just for children, but for people of all ages, genders, races, religions, disabilities and sexual orientations in all walks and ways of life. My hope is that wearing or holding these symbols will bolster self-esteem and alleviate the depression and despair that bullying creates. Suicide can be an affect of bullying and this is an extremely sad outcome to this epidemic. Please join me in solidarity to put an end to bullying by identifying its true causes and reflecting it back to the oppressor where it belongs.
~Denyse
Be Happy Be Loved Be Safe