Geoffrey's Story

I have already shared (here) about some of ways I felt impacted by my experiences at the recent concert event featuring Matthew West.  Something I didn't talk about there was how the "Mom" part of me was so moved by the story of a young man and his struggles to overcome bullying.  Connor's story affected me so deeply because of my own son's story.

First, click here to read Connor's story~

Connor and his mother both appeared at the concert, and Connor spoke so bravely to the audience about his experiences being bullied.  He appealed to those gathered to choose their words more carefully and to realize they may be the only Jesus some people ever meet.  He also expressed that basic, simple longing we all have when he spoke of the desire to just be accepted for who he is. 

This is the song, "To Me," that Matthew was inspired to write after reading Connor's story as told by his mother~

The part of the song that I hope my own son will always take to heart, besides the loving words of the chorus, is:

"So go on and dream bigger dreams

than this town's ever seen before.

There are just two kinds of people:

One's who say 'You're just not able,'

And the ones who change the world.

And you're gonna change the world."

This evening, Geoffrey was working on an essay for a class at school, in which he had to write about a time he had a problem.  He brought his essay to me and asked me to read it.  I couldn't stop my tears when I read what he had written about his problem... the problem was being bullied.

Here is Geoffrey's story (in his own words)~

"Over the years, many people have teased me. It started at ----- in fourth grade. There were many bullies there. All throughout that year people were mean to me, especially at recess. The teachers hardly did anything about it. It was a very hard year for me.

In fifth grade it just got worse. Whenever I tried to play football I was either the last one picked or people would push me back and forth saying “You get Geoffrey.” “No! I don’t want him, YOU take him.” Even when people finally accepted me on their team, they NEVER passed the ball to me.  Finally, I transferred to -----. Some kids were nice to me, but some just didn’t accept me. I got to go in the relay to compete against the kids from ----- and -----.

This year I came back to -----. Sadly, kids bullied me. By the second day of school, most boys began teasing me. They made up a very annoying nickname, Geofryfry. Even though I expressed I didn’t like it, they continued it, but with more force. I had asked teachers to tell them to stop, and even though the teachers told those boys to stop, they just kept going and said I was a tattle-tail. Finally some kids started sticking up for me. They were N- and K-. One day when a few kids were teasing me at the lockers, N- told them to stop. Since N- is seen as a front-runner, they just walked away. A few days later at lunch, kids were throwing seeds at me. Some filled up a Gatorade with a bunch of gross stuff and slammed it on my table right in front of me while singing “Happy Birthday”. K- then told me “I don’t know what is wrong with these people. You are really cool.” Sadly, at soccer kids started calling me Geofryfry. I got so angry, I considered quitting. But my mom told me to keep at it, so I did.

The next day I told my mom what was going on at school. She sent a huge email to Mr. H-. It included everything that had been going on, plus a whole lot of details. Later that day, Mr. H- had a talk with every sixth grade boy. Sadly, kids still were mean to me. They even bullied me on the same day! Some kids just wanted to push me down and just make me feel miserable. Kids bullied me a ton when I was in the boy’s locker room for gym. One of them even said: “Tell all you want! We won’t get in trouble!” But one day, for some reason, several of the kids stopped bullying me. Since I had prayed for them the night before, I thought that God had answered my prayer.

Now kids are still mean to me. But I know several people who don’t listen to other people’s ideas of me. They accept me for who I am. But the ones who started were N- and K-, and I will always trust them. I learned that it doesn’t matter what people who bully you think. All that matters is a few friends that accept you for who you are."

My son, Geoffrey, is definitely someone who is going to change this world.  He is an exceptional person.  It has pained this Mother's Heart over these last few years to witness his struggle. 

I pray he will find the acceptance he seeks... from our Lord and within himself. 

And I pray this world becomes a more accepting place for us all.