Here’s what kind of kid I was

Awhile back, I did this 30 day music challenge thing where each day I had to come up with a song based on a topic. I couldn’t think of any song that made me feel guilty when I was doing the challenge. This week I realized there’s a song that does that.
Footloose.
See, in grade school (possibly grade 2 or 3), there was this kid. I think his name was James, not sure. We were supposed to put on this fashion show or volunteer for it or something and the teacher had this kid come up to demonstrate because he’d been in a fashion show. Now visually, think a smaller Sheldon. He got up infront of everyone in the class. The teacher turned on a little tape player so the song Footloose was playing. This kid did his walk and then danced a little to the music, kicking off his shoes to that part of the song. And the class laughed at him. We mocked him. See, he’s the kid that in retrospect was probably laughed at and such a far bit. We were told a few days later he’d fallen off a ladder and wouldn’t be back to school for a while. He never came back. And looking back now, I always wonder if there was even a ladder involved. Did we make him hate coming to school because we were kids and didn’t think about consequences and feelings? I didn’t insult him, but I was one of the people who would have laughed. I remember doing it, thinking he was being ridiculous and stupid. Looking back, I wonder if he thought this was his moment, his chance to prove to all the people who mocked him that he was cool, he’d done a cool thing and was going to show everyone. And we’d laughed, probably made him feel stupid and even less cool. What if we made him want to go to another school? What if I was part of that?
So when I hear that song now, there’s always a part of me that thinks of him when it first gets to the “kick off your Sunday shoes” part, and feels a sightly bad for my part in that. Because I know back then I wouldn’t have had the courage to do what he did.
Now I still like that song, but every now and then I have a guilty thought. I mean, I was a kid who didn’t know any better. But it’s still a thought.