So, I couldn't think of a very good or fitting title for this post, so I had to pick a very corny and cliche one. But for this post, I'm going to take a very different approach to what I have normally been doing. I'm not going to bash other teams or be a loud-mouth Philly fan. Today, I want to focus on some events that occurred a few months ago in the Philadelphia area.
Nadin Khoury is a 13 year old boy who lives in Upper Darby, an area just on the border of the Philadelphia city-limits. His parents moved to the US years ago as refugees from Liberia, and he just recently moved to Upper Darby. Nadin is also a huge Philadelphia Eagles fan. Since he arrived to his new school, he began to be brutally bullied by his classmates. It began with some name calling, but peaked one day when he was brutally beaten up and hung to a fence. One of the bullies decided it would be a great idea to tape it with his video camera and post it to youtube...bad idea for that bully.
The video was discovered and the story went national. Nadin Khoury was brave enough to let the story surface for the public to hear and learn about, and even was invited to the daytime talk-show, The View. When talking about the story, all of a sudden, Eagles players DeSean Jackson, Jamaal Jackson, and Todd Herremans came onto the stage, and sat right next to Nadin. He was so shocked, that he began to cry tears of joy, and DeSean Jackson, our star wide receiver, gave him his jersey, and then spoke some reassuring words. It was a beautiful thing to see.
DeSean Jackson has a reputation for being a big-headed jerk. But after seeing this, it reassured my belief that he is a great guy, and a hell of a football player. His egotistical antics, in my opinion, make him hilarious. I am very proud to call him a member of the football team that I support, and am extremely glad to see athletes so involved in a good cause. Bullying is running rampant across the country, and by having star-athletes, who are the idols of many children, speak against it, we are preventing it from ruining the lives of young children. Here are the links to the Youtube video and the ESPN.com story about it.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=6120346
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYbY1gqAEx0
That is terrible that he had to go through all of that bullying by people who should be supporting him and welcoming him to his new school! I really think it's great, though, that he got to meet one of his favorite football player in person.
ReplyDelete