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Welcome To My World

No sooner did I begin crafting this post about Bullied student tickled pink by schoolmates' T-shirt campaign than my friend Mark Riddle mentioned it.  Stupid people stealing my thoughts. Thankfully what strikes me is different from what struck Mark.

The story is essentially about a kid w ho got bullied for wearing a pink shirt the first day of school.  Two other seniors somehow found out about it and bought 50 pink shirts (tank tops included) to wear to school the next day.  Then they e-mailed their friends to let them know.

The next day almost the entire school is in pink.  Either from shirts they bought or some wearing their own pink clothes (from shirts down to shoes).  The principal said:

"Definitely it looked like there was a big weight lifted off his shoulders. He went from looking right depressed to being as happy as can be," said Shepherd.

It's a heartwarming story and certainly gives you the warm fuzzies.  Here's what really struck me though.

This was the kids first day in high school.  He was an incoming freshman and the people who noticed were seniors.  That pretty much means that these seniors almost definitely didn't know the person bullied since they were 4 years apart in age.

I'm also struck by how incredibly quickly they acted.  They heard about the problem and immediately acted so that the next day the hurt soul would be surprised and feel welcomed immediately.  The kid didn't go a few days hurting, and the seniors didn't simply express their distaste for what the bully did.  The spent their own money in no time flat to change the outlook of one person.

I wonder if I'd be willing to put forth a bunch of money and time this afternoon to help someone I know nothing about.

Peace,
+Tom

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