about a week ago,my 4-year-old cousin and i were playing bas

Helping A Child In Need
--posted by heather619008 on Jul 3,2007
About a week ago,my 4 year old cousin and I were playing basketball at our local park.The weather was warm,and many other children were outside as well.As we played,I noticed a small group of boys picking on a smaller,skinnier--and possibly younger--boy.They were calling him names and even pushed him to the ground and kicked dirt in his face.When I saw that,I grabbed my cousin by the hand and walked over to the group.
I stepped between them and the smaller boy,and asked them politely what this boy had done to deserve what they were doing to him.One of the boys replied,"He's weird." At that,I asked them if they thought I was weird (I have black and pink hair and quite a few piercings,but I'm also an intimidating 5'11"),and their response was a semi-frightened "No." I then asked one of the boys if he thought his friend was weird,and again,the answer was "No." So,I asked one of the boys to define the word 'weird',and he simply said,"I don't know..'different'." That was my cue.I told them that everyone is different,and that they all looked just as different to the other boy as he did to them.They all stood silently for a moment,and then the most amazing thing happened:One of the boys who hadn't said anything since I walked over stepped around me and helped the small boy off the ground and then apologized.He offered to let him play with them,but the boy quietly said 'thank you' and refused,saying he had to get home.
I thanked the boy for being so mature,and he just mumbled "you're welcome" and ran off to join his friends in the basketball court.As I looked around,I realized that there were dozens of other people at the park--some of them were parents with children of their own--but no one else had stopped to help this boy.I felt happy that the one boy was strong enough to stand up against his friends to help someone in need,but I felt sad that no one else had even taken a second glance.I couldn't help but think that those other parents at the park would want someone to help their child in that situation,and yet they did nothing but stand by.
I hope that my gesture helped them realize that they could have made a difference with minimal effort,and maybe next time they will be the ones who choose to help.