School begins on
Tuesday after Labor Day. For the past two weeks, we’ve been preparing for the
kids to arrive. New teachers started it out spending one week getting
acclimated to our district and to our school. Lots of hope, a little trepidation.
This week, the
veteran staff joined them. Nice to see them back and nice to see them mix.
Veteran and Rookie together. Learning from and sharing with one another.
Something I’m always interested to watch.
We spent quite a
bit of time on relationship building, on the importance of seeking out the Invisible
Kid. You know the type, if not who they might be.
The kid who goes
along all day without making waves. The kid who smiles to mask and disguise the
fear, the loneliness, the desperation. The kid who might not garner the
accolades, the recognition. The kid who has it tough at home because parents
are absent one way or another. The kid who might be a little less clean and not
have much to eat. The kid who might not have the trendiest clothes or shoes.
The kid who doesn’t sport the latest cellphone.
That kid. Those
kids. The Invisible Kid.
Hunter Hayes sings
a song, Invisible and it contains these lyrics:
Crowded hallways are the loneliest
places
For
outcasts and rebels
Or
anyone who just dares to be different
There are a lot of
kids walking the hallways, sitting in classrooms, riding the bus, eating (or
not) in the cafeteria who find it lonely. The kid who is the outcast, the
rebel. The kid who dares to be different. These kids try to find themselves,
their place, in the world . . . their world . . . and struggle doing so because
no one is there to guide them, help them, nurture them.
Or, are there?
The sad thing is
that not all teachers, not all coaches, not all adults recognize the power they
have over kids, their hopes and dreams, their future. They don’t recognize the
power they have over each other. It’s untapped. A moment . . . time . . . is
wasted and passes before our eyes.
Sometimes.
There is beauty in
capturing and connecting with a kid, with another adult, with The Invisible. I
mean, beyond the grade, beyond the test, beyond the curriculum, beyond the
football or basketball, beyond the cello and coronet, and beyond the theater
stage or teacher’s planning area. Not only beauty, but potential. For that kid,
for that teacher, for that coach, for that adult.
I end each post
with a charge to the reader: Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!
What more noble an
exercise is there? What more noble profession is there than the one of teacher,
of mentor, of counselor, of nurse, of care-giver, of . . .
We have the power
and the ability to change lives. We have the ability to make a difference where
and when a difference is so very needed. All we need to do is seek out, to spot,
The Invisible. It’s what we got into this for, right? It’s what we signed on
for, isn’t it? I hope so. For the kids’ sake. For each other’s sake. For your
sake. Something to think about . . .
Hunter Hayes’
song, Invisible can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiUqgL5urWc
t’s worth a look and a listen.
Live Your Life,
and Make A Difference!
To My Readers:
In addition to my
book, Caught in a Web, interest in
my other four novels has increased. I think because of the critical acclaim Caught in a Web has received.
Currently, it’s sitting at #19 on
the Online Book Club’s List of Best Selling Books and is #3 in Crime-Thriller-Mystery on that same list. And after 8 Months, Caught in a Web is still on Best Thrillers list of Best Thrillers
of the Year. I’m humbled and pretty darn pleased.
So thanks to them
and to all who have taken a chance on reading Caught in a Web. If you are interested in a copy on either Kindle
or in Paperback, you can find it on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CKF7696 or on Barnes
and Noble at https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/caught-in-a-web-joseph-lewis/1128250923?ean=9781684330249
And if you do give
Caught in a Web a shot, please leave
a rating and a review. I would appreciate it. Thanks for this consideration!
Caught in a Web:
The bodies of high
school and middle school kids are found dead from an overdose of heroin and
fentanyl. The drug trade along the I-94 and I-43 corridors and the Milwaukee
Metro area is controlled by MS-13, a violent gang originating from El Salvador.
Ricardo Fuentes is sent from Chicago to Waukesha to find out who is cutting in
on their business, shut it down and teach them a lesson. But he has an ulterior
motive: find and kill a fifteen-year-old boy, George Tokay, who had killed his
cousin the previous summer.
Detectives Jamie
Graff, Pat O’Connor and Paul Eiselmann race to find the source of the drugs,
shut down the ring, and find Fuentes before he kills anyone else, especially
George or members of his family. The three detectives discover the ring has its
roots in a high school among the students and staff. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CKF7696
Book One, Stolen Lives:
Two thirteen year
old boys are abducted off a safe suburban street. Kelliher and his team of FBI
agents have 24 hours to find them or they’ll end up like all the others- dead!
They have no leads, no clues, and nothing to go on. And the possibility exists
that one of his team members might be involved. http://tinyurl.com/Stolen-Lives-J-Lewis
Book Two, Shattered Lives:
Six men escaped
and are out for revenge. The boys, recently freed from captivity, are in danger
and so are their families, but they don’t know it. The FBI has no clues, no
leads, and nothing to go on and because of that, cannot protect them. http://tinyurl.com/Shattered-Lives-J-Lewis
Book Three of the Lives Trilogy, Splintered Lives:
A 14 year old boy
knows the end is coming. What he doesn’t know is when, where or by whom.
Without that knowledge, neither he nor the FBI can protect him or his family.
The Lives Trilogy Prequel, Taking Lives:
FBI Agent Pete
Kelliher and his partner search for the clues behind the bodies of six boys
left in various and remote parts of the country. Even though they don’t know
one another, the lives of FBI Kelliher, 11 year old Brett McGovern, and 11 year
old George Tokay are separate pieces of a puzzle. The two boys become
interwoven with the same thread that Pete Kelliher holds in his hand. The three
of them are on a collision course and when that happens, their lives are in
jeopardy as each search for a way out. http://tinyurl.com/Taking-Lives-J-Lewis
Connect with me on Social Media:
Twitter at
@jrlewisauthor
Facebook at:
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