How to Deal?

So I was reading blogs on another website and I came across one in particular. This is what it said:

“I was at school and me and my friends sat at a table with just one kid at it. He looked really shy and he was eating all alone, I think he was a freshman. Then these freshmen girls come up to the table and looked at the kid like he had a disease. There was nowhere else to sit in the cafeteria, so they just sat down. The whole time they were giving the kid funny looks and laughing about him. One of the girls got up to get a napkin and when she came back the shy boy was getting up to leave. He pushed in her chair so he could get by and then pulled it back out for her. She rolled her eyes and said, "Oh he's such a gentleman" in a really sarcastic way and then he and her friends laughed. Me and my friend looked at each other and both said "Wow way to be a b***h!" at the same time. We said it pretty loud, but i don't think they heard us. It bugged me for the rest of the day that I didn't say something to her. I feel so bad and i know I should have told her off. What would you have done if you had seen that happen??” - YuppxitsxL

As I was reading this, I remembered something I saw when I was job shadowing in my little sisters seventh grade class. I was in the back of the room and there was a boy sitting three rows up reading throughout the entire class period. The teacher was pretty cool and he didn’t mind because the boy is a straight A student. I was daydreaming [[ as usual ]] when something caught my eye. I looked up and the other kids sitting around him were throwing paper at him, hitting his books, calling him names, and taking his papers and everything else on his desk. Now, the teacher told the boys to stop and they didn’t listen. Although he was my favorite teacher, I was shocked that he didn’t say anything else to them. He just let them harass this boy. When class was over and you’re in that moment where the teacher just lets you sit around and talk until the bell rings, not only were the boys around him doing all of these horrible things, people from across the room was throwing things and shouting insults. All the while, the teacher sat in his chair talking to other students about football. FOOTBALL. Not once saying anything to the other students. I watched them, and no body else in the class would stand up for him. A boy sitting in front of him was laughing and insulting as well and then he turns around and starts talking to him because apparently, that’s the only friend the boy has. He is just sitting there minding his own business and those other kids went out of their way to torment him. For what? By the end of class, he had tears in his eyes and he kept his head down the entire time, only to result in even more abuse. Just because one kid has the courage to be different, that means you should punish him for it? Just because one boy is smarter than the rest of his class, you can torment him for that? Why chastise a person for wanting to have a better life? For wanting knowledge? What makes this one kid the target for everybody’s stupidity? Now, I know this kid. He used to be my little sisters best friend. His brother was in my grade and he was the same way. This boy home life wasn’t the greatest. His mom and dad both drink. His oldest brother is in Iraq. The preacher picks him up every Sunday and takes him to church and back home. He sits in the front every Sunday with his Bible. He always asks his mom to go with him and she never does. Then he has to go to school and deal with everyone else. That is a school that desperately needs an “If You Really Knew Me” intervention. Message me your answers to these questions. What are your thoughts on this subject? What would you have done or said had you been there? Are you or someone you know going through the same thing as these two individuals? Have you ever singled somebody out and made them the butt of all your jokes? If so, why? Maybe you should really read further before you judge the next book by its cover.