Remember feeling excited about going to school the next day because you have a new pair of shoes to brag to your classmates about? A similar story was submitted to Love What Matters, except that it turned out quite heartwarmingly different. Darla Collins Mullins tells the story of her child, Coltey, and his teacher, Jarod Walls.
“I recently went into a store with my youngest son and he fell in love with these shoes. They were the most amazing shoes he had ever seen. He couldn’t wait to show them to my mom and pops.
He wouldn’t wear them in the rain because he didn’t want to mess them up. He was so careful of every step he took in his beloved shoes. He was so proud of the awesome new shoes he picked out all on his own. He couldn’t wait to wear them to school because he just knew all of his classmates would think they were as cool as he did.
But then he came straight home from school, put the shoes in a dark part of the closet, and never said a word to me.”
When Darla went to Coltey’s school, she was able to find out the reason behind her little boy’s behavior. It turned out that one of his classmates said that his Spongebob Squarepants shoes were ugly. Although the teacher reprimanded the student and had them apologize, the damage was done.
The other day, however, Coltey was excited to wear his shoes again — to match one of his favorite teachers, Jarod Walls. When the teacher heard the story of how Coltey was bullied for wearing Spongebob shoes, he ordered himself a pair of the super cool shoes and a shirt featuring the cartoon character so he could be twins with his student.