When Tae Moore saw a fellow classmate, Taylor Bates, being bullied for the way he looks and how he dresses, he made a compassionate decision to help.
That same day, Tae went and bought Taylor new shoes, a highly sought after pair of Jordans, and then brought them to school the following day for Taylor.
“This kid goes to our school named Eazy-E,” Tae wrote. “He likes to rap and said he wants to be a rapper, just trying to chase his dream… but kids at school like to bully him and pick on him and talk about the way he dresses and looks, so I went and bought him some Jordans.”
Taylor stood in disbelief as his classmate gave him the expensive pair of new retro 1 Jordans. He put the shoes on and they hugged each other. Taylor later shared how deeply grateful he was for Tae’s kindness.
“This guy’s name is Tae, he goes to greenwood high school,” Taylor wrote in a post online. “Yesterday when I walked into the gym to get ready for lunch Tae asked me what size shoe I wear and I said “9, why”, and he said “alright tomorrow I want you to show up at this exact spot, ok”, and I said “alright man”.
“Today when I went into the gym there was a small crowd of students around Tae who had a footlocker bag, when he saw me come in he pulled out a Jordan shoe box and he opened it and it had retro 1 Jordans, and then he handed them to me saying “here you go man these are yours”, at first I didn’t know what he was talking about, but then he told his friends to put my book bag somewhere, while he laced my shoes, when they were on I asked him “I don’t understand why are you giving me these”, when he said “I heard people have been bullying you, so I wanted to get you these to make you feel better”, and when he said that I hugged him and I almost cried, and I cannot thank him enough, and then he said “and if anybody bullying you, you let me know alright”, and I said “thank you so much”. There are awesome people in the world.”
Tae’s and Taylor’s classmate took a video of the sweet exchange and also shared it online, and in less than a week it received over 70,000 shares and over 2 million views.
Bullying can be very stressful and is a situation that, unfortunately, some children face while going to school. Studies have shown that bullying is linked to depression, anxiety, decreased academic achievement, increased feelings of sadness and loneliness, changes in sleep and eating patterns, a loss of interest in activities children used to enjoy, substance abuse, and suicide.
Tae’s beautiful heart and act of kindness makes us so proud of our younger generation. After seeing a classmate be bullied for his appearance and for his shoes, he spent his own money to buy him the best pair of shoes he could find. Taylor’s self-esteem and self-confidence are in a better state thanks to Tae, and he will likely remember this kind experience for a lifetime.
You are Loved.
