Stop It! Stop It! Stop It!

By Cynthia Ganter-Givens

Violence is such a negative element within our society. It has destroyed the hearts and minds of so many good people. It has interrupted our bravery and implemented fear. People are afraid to go to church, afraid to go to work, and afraid to go to school for fear that they will become the next statistic. We cant let violence defeat us!

Rise Above

If we can rise above the insults and rise above defeat,
If we can look in the face of our neighbors and smile every time we meet,
If we can keep a positive attitude and refuse to be a cheat,
We can band together with all forces, and STOP THE VIOLENCE on our street!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524503178

Cynthia Ganter-Givens

Cynthia Ganter-Givens is the mother of four daughters, currently residing in Chicago, Illinois. She is an actress, writer, and director. She founded and developed a performance group called “Drama from the Soul” which holds dear to her heart. One of her most satisfying accomplishments includes “In this Place,” a production specifically written to celebrate the Garfield Park Conservatory’s 100th year anniversary. “In This Place” is a play she wrote and directed that portrays growing up on Chicago’s Westside during the late 1960’s. Lastly, her faith empowers her beliefs that God will lead her to her destiny.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Cynthia Ganter-Givens.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-5245-0318-5

                eBook           978-1-5245-0317-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 08/12/2016

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

710246

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

MY STORY

Poetry

CONFUSION

STOP THIS VIOLENCE

PUT THE GUNS DOWN

SHOW A LITTLE LOVE

WITH ALL OF MY MIGHT

WHEN WILL THE VIOLENCE END?

RISE ABOVE

Prose

MY BOY

MY GIRL

BAG LADY

WILL THERE BE A FUTURE FOR ME?

Skits

PRAYER

DEALER

One Act

INSEPERABLE

INTRODUCTION

First and foremost I thank God for giving me the mind, capability, the love, peace, joy and harmony to write this book. With the exception of My Story, (which is based off of my own real life situation), this book is fictional. It is made up of a collaboration of poetry, prose, skits, and a one-act play. It was written so that people can read stories similar to what many experience when violence pays a visit to their home, church, school, playground, etc. The characters in the stories portray the multiple emotions developed by these types of scenarios including the most common; the pain and suffering.

The primary reason for focusing on violence in this book is to bring awareness to the issue that we are forced to live with every day. We have evolved into a society in which violence is rapidly stripping the comfort out of our culture. It is damaging the potential of our youth, increasing the heartbreak of our elderly who fought so hard against it, and it is stealing the breath of life from our children. This has created an emotional rollercoaster for us all. Today our minds and hearts are filled with gleam, and tomorrow we are hurt, mentally disturbed, broken, and in pain. Violence has disrespected all the rights of our people, and it is subsequently destroying the faith in our society.

This book was not written to become the antidote for the problems that we face. However, if it inspires some who could be a potential hazard to our society to change their minds from committing such heinous crimes, please applaud its efforts. I’m hoping that those who read these pieces of work will get involved with what’s going on in each piece as they transform themselves into these characters. I want them to connect with the hurt and pain that the characters are forced to portray in these scenarios. I want people to stop and ask the question: why?

Violence has taken away so many dreams. It has seized us of our rights. It has shut the door on so many who are afraid to come out for fear that they will be the next statistic for a tragic end. I believe that life was meant to be serene, happy, carefree, and