Be sure to reach the end of this article to see the full video!

The phrase “children can be so cruel” is as true today as in the past. Luckily, there are also kind-hearted kids, as this story proves.

Desiree Andrews is a happy junior high school student.

She has Down syndrome, but she’s shown most of the school that she is a good person who deserves to be treated like anyone else. Sadly, there are a few kids who have been making fun of her.

Andrews is able to be optimistic most of the time. So when the opportunity to become a cheerleader came along, she enthusiastically signed up.

Andrews learned the cheerleading routines well, and she was excited for her first basketball game.

But on the day of the game, some other kids almost ruined it for her. From the stands, they kept on mocking Andrews for being different than the other cheerleaders.

After a while, three of the basketball players had had enough. Mid-match they stormed off the court and over to the bullies.

“The kids in the audience were picking on Dee. So we all stepped forward.” – Chase Vazquez, basketball-playing student.

They loudly told the bullies that what they were doing was shameful and unfair. By now, they had caused quite a scene, and the entire room was focusing on them.

The bullies looked around and saw that everyone was judging them for their cruelty.

They realized what it felt like to be shamed.

“It’s not fair when other people get treated wrong, because we are all the same. We’re all created the same. God made us the same.” – Scooter Terrien, basketball-playing student.

The bullies all apologized. Andrews, having a kind heart, forgave the bullies. She could tell that they had learned their lesson.

So the game carried on, and now Andrews had even more confidence than ever before.

From that day onwards, the kids started calling the gym that they were playing in “D’s House.”

That name stuck, and soon the school athletic director made a sign for the gym, naming it D’s House.

So even after Andrews and the basketball player graduate, the school will remember what happened.

This story started spreading around the town, and soon, the local news wanted to interview Andrews and the basketball players.

A video of the news report made its way onto YouTube. It soon went viral. To date, it has been viewed over 4.1 million times. It also has over 20,000 likes and 2,400 comments. People have been saying things like this:

Stories like this show that the world is heading in the right direction.

In the past, it would have been hard to imagine kids stopping their game to defend someone else. But these kids could see that stopping bullying was more important than any basketball game.

Andrews says that she wants to be famous when she grows up.

Thanks to her friends on the basketball team, she already is! Millions of people have been inspired by her story online. The best thing is that she’s shown other kids that it’s ok to be different and that there are decent people as well as cruel people.

Whatever Andrews and the basketball players end up doing for their careers, they’re sure to become amazing members of society.

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

Source: TODAY’S TMJ4