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12-Year-Old Felt Sick Watching A Student Get Bullied For Wearing Ragged Shoes. He Knew What To Do. [1]
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Date: 2022-11-27
Seventh grader Romello "Mello" Early came home every day from Buffalo Creek Academy Charter School feeling sick to his stomach.
He didn’t understand what could be lacking in many of his classmates, the one’s who thought it best to torment, mock and bully his fellow classmate Melvin Anderson.
For wearing the same pair of ragged shoes everyday.
Instead of feeling grateful that they had choices in footwear, they felt it best to ridicule another living in a different circumstance.
It made Mello tangibly sick.
"I could tell it was upsetting him. It just put a real bad ache in my stomach to see somebody have to go through that, and to be to be picked on just based off appearance."
For weeks into months.
He knew then what he was going to do, but it would take some time.
He had to save his allowance money and not spend a dime, he would mow a neighbors lawn in his Buffalo community and not spend a dime.
Until one day he returned feeling sick, and called his mom Anita James as soon as he left school, and he was crying. He asked her to please take him to the shoe store so he could buy his friend a pair of shoes.
He told her what Melvin was going through, and that he was “getting bullied and I’m tired of it.”
He told her of the stomach aches.
Anita told him that though he felt the pain in his stomach…. what he was actually feeling was heartache.
And so they went, and knowing Melvin’s size and favorite color, selected a pair of Nike Dunks high tops that ran $135.
How proud Anita was towards her son, watching him look for just the right pair.
She did something right.
Indeed she did.
Said Anita, “I was floored, because most kids are not willing to give up something to another child; most kids are about themselves. Just to see at that age he was acting as an adult, it touched me in a way that I almost can’t even describe.”
The next day, Mello asked Melvin to meet him before school.
And gave him his new kicks.
Said Melvin, "I was totally shocked. I felt very happy and very surprised.
Being called ‘dirty’… It made me feel sad, mad and very disliked.”
Instead of going right to class, Melvin felt compelled to go straight to the Dean of Culture at the Academy, Bryant Brown Jr.
And put the new shoes on his desk.
And told him what he went through, and what Mello went through, and just what Mello did about it.
And he further spoke with Mello.
Said Bryant, "My student Mello told me he was tired of other students picking on Melvin about his shoes," Brown wrote on Facebook, later adding, "This is what I live for 💯 💯 be that helping hand.
We truly think it was a kind gesture that I haven’t seen ever in my life. I’ve seen it on YouTube and I see acts of kindness with students all around this world, but for it to happen at Buffalo Creek, I was lost for words.”
And that he would institute seminars on bullying.
And have a talk with those students that felt the need to do such, to figure out what exactly is going wrong with them, and possibly get their parents involved, as many of their issues start at home.
It was he that wanted to share the story and act of kindness with the world.
( precious, precious reactions at 4:00 )
Melvin’s father Wesley Anderson said that he didn’t have the full story when it came to how his son actually got the new pair of shoes. When Melvin, who his father described as "humble," came home with new sneakers, he had initially told his dad that the shoes didn’t fit his friend anymore so he had given them to him. However, Anderson got the full story when Brown had called him to let him know the response the post was getting on social media. At first, Anderson wasn’t sure how to react to the attention that the story was getting. He acknowledged how unkind words said about one another can hurt, explaining, “They’re not aware that what they’re saying is having an effect on other kids. That’s where the bullying comes in and they’re not really aware of that.” Anderson just hopes that the kindness of the situation between his son and his friend is “contagious.” “Just treat everybody with kindness instead of trying to ridicule the other child, because they never know what their parents are going through — a financial situation, mental situation, or whatever the case may be,” he said. “I just hope that that spreads around. I don’t hope everybody buys everybody a pair of sneakers, but instead of being mean and telling jokes, just console one another. Lift everybody up.”
Said Mello ( is that not the greatest name? ), "All the grades I went through, I was picked on because of my height. And the way it made me feel, I just thought … nobody else should have to go through that feeling.
You should always treat people the way you want to be treated. I have a lot of stuff, so I was thinking, let’s bless somebody else today.
Nobody could make fun of him or say anything about him anymore.” Melvin told Mello that he was going to repay his friend back, but Mello shook his head. "You don't have to pay me back. It's just a gift from me to you." x x YouTube Video Whilst and until those in charge try to tackle this complex societal issue with compassion and expediency, when we see a person in front of us with a clear and immediate need, and we see a clear and immediate way to meet that need…… well? Like Mello, we’re just keeping a sensitive and concerned eye on each other.
( A grateful shout out to F U RWNJ for directing me to this grooviness.
Thank you, bruddah! It takes a village. )
[END]
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[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/27/2138607/-12-Year-Old-Felt-Sick-Watching-A-Student-Get-Bullied-For-Wearing-Ragged-Shoes-He-Knew-What-To-Do
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