His left foot, crooked and wrapped tightly with a brace, sqeaks on the wet floor as he enters school on a rainy Wendsday morning. He walks, his left shoulder tilted towards the ground and his strutt off beat, to his first class. He sits in the wooden desk of his first hour class. He hears the familiar voice of a popular boy who is seated behind him fill the room. He continues to examine the inctricate patterns the wood makes in the desk and ignores the demeaning comments coming from behind him. He feels a sharp poke behind his ear, but does not flinch. He recognizes the feeling of pencil lead peircing his skin. He feels the small trickle of blood behind his left ear slide down his neck. The chants become meaner and louder. Thoughts race through his head as his brain connects pathways and calculates proabilities of the outcome of this particular situation. The bully gains a crowd. Soon he is surrounded. He begins to rock back and forth. Louder and louder it gets. His mind stumbles and trips, he cannot think. A tear slips from his deep blue eyes hidden beneath his glasses. A roar of laughter erupts from the ever growing crowd. His shirt is tugged and he is brought to his feet. He feels hands on his chest giving light shoves. He hears the word that hurts his loving heart the most radiate in mumbles, whispers, and shouts from the bully's congregation, "retard". Soon he is overwhelmed. He screams, stomps, shakes, and falls to the floor in a tantrum of stress and emotional pain. The crowd goes silent. And his vision goes dark. When he regains his sight he is in the calm room. Surrounded by blue padding he is given a chance to relax. He rocks back and forth examining the strips made in the fibers of the padding. So intricate, like him. He imagines the fingers of a woman weaving this for him, for his escape. He lies on his back and listens to the rain tap on the roof, and his eyes shut. Peace from the violence in a world for an Special Needs Boy...

My name is Mary. I am a special needs adovocate. I am 14 years old and it is my life goal to change the world. I want to bring love and peace to the world. Bullying alone is bad enough, trust me I know, but disabled kids do not understand how to productively handle it. There is no reason a special needs kid should be bullied, PERIOD. They are amazing kids with amazing personalities, talents, and accomplishments. People are just afraid to get to know them. It is my goal, that someday children of all abilities will see eachother for the equals that they are. Everyone has their weaknesses, some more visible than others. But we can use these weaknesses to make us strong. I have forgiven the kids who bullied me in Junior High. I forgave the bully who made fun of me yesterday, though he laughed at me when I said it, I smiled and told him to have a wonderful day. I pray for him, and all the other bullies in the world. "Forgive them Lord; for they know not what they do." Because they don't, and to stop them, we have to show them. Thank you Bully Project. Love one another. You're beautiful. Now let's change the world.