For every Keaton Jones, the bullied Knoxville area boy whose tearful Twitter video went viral over the weekend and drew voices of support from various celebrities, there are 10,000 or more boys and girls his age who endure bullying.
The young Tennessean already is ahead of many of those because he understands that this, too, shall pass. But that doesn't make the enduring any easier.
"People that are different don't need to be criticized about it," Jones said as tears rolled down his cheeks in the video seen by more than 20 million viewers. "It's not their fault. But if you are made fun of, just don't let it bother you. Stay strong, I guess. It's hard. But it'll probably get better one day."
The sixth-grader at Horace Maynard Middle School in Union County said he was made fun of because of his nose, said he's been called "ugly" and was told he had "no friends."
This is Keaton Jones, he lives in Knoxville and he has a little something to say about bullying.pic.twitter.com/coyQxFp33V
— Everything TN (@Everything_TN) December 9, 2017
The bullies, he said, poured milk on him and put ham in his clothes.
But such derision just as easily may have come over someone else's glasses, or his extra weight, or her plain clothing, or his bookishness or her mousy hair.
Instead of using milk or ham, the bullies may have made her fall and scattered her books or taken his lunch money. They may have teased him about his name or her race, his haircut or her height, his mom's car or her dad's job.
We wish the principal, Greg Clay, had been a little less cavalier when asked about the situation by the Knoxville News Sentinel.
"It's not as rampant as the video would have you believe," he said, adding that the incident described in the video was resolved weeks ago.
In truth, Jones never alleged anything rampant, just the bullying in general.
"What's the point of it?" the young man pleaded in the video. "Why ... take innocent people and find ... a way to be mean to them? It's not OK."
Yes, it does get better, but victims of bullying often can't see down that road, much less several feet in front of them. That's why we hear of so many teen suicides.
They can't see 15 years ahead when the bully can't hold a job, when the victim uses strength gained while enduring the bullying to be a better decision-maker, when the bully has no friends, when the victim finds being different can be an advantage.
We can remember Jewish children sent to the library during Bible class and the first black children at our all-white elementary school. We didn't see any bullying, but that doesn't mean it wasn't there.
The Jewish boys may have felt excluded from being with their classmates or they may have been glad not to have a lesson. The black children enrolled in a school where they not only didn't know anybody but also didn't look like anybody. No matter how nice to them the other students were, they couldn't have helped to have felt different.
We've seen all too frequently in recent months and weeks that bullies sometimes never grow out of it. They just go on to sexually harass and sexually assault, to make fun of others and call them names.
Jones, fortunately, has a mother who imparted the correct wisdom, undoubtedly with a large dollop of love. Children being bullied need to hear that what is being done to them is wrong, that they can't help their unique physical makeup, that they have to learn to overlook the mean things said by people (that, alas, will continue into adulthood), that they have the capacity to get through such abuse, that it is difficult, and that the situation will improve in time.
Unfortunately, bullies often learn at home, too. They learn to make up for their inadequacies (or their parents') by making fun of others, that making someone else look weak (temporarily) makes them look stronger, that one's physical appearance is ground center for making fun of someone and that it is hard for victims to cast aside what they are hearing.
Keaton Jones' video is not likely to turn the corner on bullying. We wish it would, but maybe among those 20-plus million viewers are bullies (or their parents) who might recognize themselves or their actions and get a clue that making fun of others is never right, much less going to win you the friendship and support of Luke Skywalker (actor Mark Hamill), University of Tennessee quarterback Jarrett Guarantano or Captain America (actor Chris Evans) as Jones' heartfelt emotions did.