So I was working as a teacher in his school and one day I went out and I was on yard duty and I saw this kid who was a seventh grade kid and he was just hanging out by the wall and all the other kids his age were playing basketball.

And I thought, why is he standing over there?

I mean, there's something wrong with this picture.

He just didn't look happy I thought

he probably would enjoy playing with the other kids and I of course I knew them all and so

I asked around and then somebody said oh well yeah you know it's because he talks funny.

And I said what do you mean and they're like well he has his accent.

Everybody makes fun of him and so then I watched more and watched more and I found out

that he was being bullied he was being picked on and then I I took him aside

and talked him a little bit and he said yeah every single day you know he hates coming to school and I could see how unhappy he was but I knew that he was a very smart kid and musical and athletic and he had a lot going for him and it just really bothered me that he was being picked on this way.

So I sat down with him and I tried to help him and I talked about ways that he could probably deal with this situation and so after a couple of weeks of just thinking about it and trying to help him I became so

caught up in in this whole thing I thought you know what I could help people I could

help kids a lot more than just at my own school. I could put together some

kind of presentation, some sort of assembly, and I could make it a musical assembly because I was a music teacher. I could I could create something that the kids would be really really compelled by and they'd really learn through this.

And so I talked to him about the idea and I said, you know what, you're a person who's living this, you're going through this.

I said, would you be willing to maybe be on video?

Could I make a video of you sharing how you feel and what it's like to be who

you are and trying to deal with this and get through it and share it on video with the other kids in the audience and at first he said oh mr

Lanker i don't think i could do that i just couldn't do it and i said look I totally understand but after a few days he

came back to me and he said you know what if I could help one kid who's going

through what I'm going through he said said, it would be worth it.

He said, yes, I'll do it.

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