AJ Kaipat Lizama -- The new kid in town?

(above photo: AJ and 1 year old Weslee) I sat down with my nephew, AJ, a couple of nights ago and talked about school. He is a 7th grader at Hopwood Junior High. I could tell that he enjoys going to school. He'd get up as early as 5 a.m. in the morning to get ready to catch the 7 a.m. school bus. Since school started in early August 2007, he's been coming home to share the excitement about going to Hopwood. Even my goddaughter, Shinha Saures, would tell me that AJ's attitude makes him popular to kids at school. "He greets his relatives even if they're not popular." says Shin. AJ is a good kid, so I try my best to give him the best.

Last night, I mentioned to my sisters about the conversation I had with AJ. AJ told me that he is having a problem with a kid by the name of Johnny who has expressed to the other kids at school that he dislikes AJ because he thinks he is a show-off. It's a common thing to have bullies at school. I've run into some during my days. Two of them have passed away, the others still live an OK life, except one of them who had to serve jail time following a vehicular homicide in the early 90's. Ain't it amazing what happens to bullies...they attract negative if they remain negative. I don't want AJ to get into trouble. I'm glad he is not interested in gaining attention in a bad way. I asked how he's been dealing with the problem, and AJ said that he tries to avoid hanging out with his friends when Johnny is around. Some of AJ's friends are also friends of Johnny--and according to someone, Johnny couldn't stand that the other kids gravitate to AJ. I understand this type of crap. It's something people just need to outgrow. I think Johnny is just jealous about the new kid in town. I hope AJ and Johnny don't get into any nasty fight before we meet with school officials to try to get to the bottom of things. Hang in there AJ.