Being a Buddy means you either get paired with an individual who has special needs or a classroom who has many different individuals in it. Recently there has been a big anti-bullying push among not only schools, but life in general. The worst is when those with special needs are at the receiving end of this bullying. These kids and/or adults are some of the greatest people you will ever meet. In my case, they changed my life.

No, I was not a bully in high school but I saw countless kids get shoved into lockers and kids trapped in bathrooms and told they should just die because they were different. No matter who stood up for them, nothing changed. High schoolers to me are the meanest a person can be. One student who could make even teachers cry and question why they went into the field, could not get to these kids. While sitting to comfort a student whom was in the classroom I spent my mornings in, I asked him why he was sad due to me not seeing the incident, and he looked up at me and said "i am not sad that he hurt me, I am sad that he does not know how to love." That shocked me. He was not upset at what happened to him, but he was upset for the person who tried to hurt him. He was stronger than the bully, and he was happy he was. He knew he made the bully mad because he never reacted, he never said anything, he just walked away...every time.

Another student I worked with 4 years ago and still speak with to this day, was full of knowledge. Though non-verbal, he showed me things about being forgiving and patient I never thought possible. In the mornings a few days a week, we would suit up and go to gym class (his favorite time of day) and we would play games that focused on stretching the muscles of these kids. He was not the fastest person but he was determined to finish everything he started. If he fell, he would get back up...every time. He never stopped to get mad when a teammate or opponent tripped him on accident, he simply took a moment to breathe and move on to the next thing. Being patient is something I struggled with. I just liked having things done in a certain time frame and way no matter who you were. I had to remember to take a moment and breathe just like my fellow student taught me. I was calmer after learning that lesson and found life could be better without being so angry.

Being a buddy is so much more than helping them do math or read, it is about listening to them and learning from them just as much as they learn from you. If you take even 10 minutes out of your day to say hi and have a conversation with a person with special needs, guaranteed you too will be changed forever. Sometimes you don't even need to help them, they just want to know that you are their friend and you don't look at them the way society does.