Posted: Jan 18, 2012 10:46 AM PST Updated: Jan 18, 2012 10:46 AM PST
The death of a 12 year old boy has spurred one family to action. Josh Stevens died in a tragic accident. But in spite of that, his family focused on his legacy and is spreading a positive message all over the country.
Channel 8′s Kim Jackson has details on this family mission. Students in Bixby were learning more than reading, writing and arithmetic. No, they got a lesson on a message we have heard before, simply, be kind.
On the basketball court–boys will be boys. But we caught up with students at Bixby’s Brassfield Elementary. They seemed to value the gift of kindness even on their basketball court.
“If you are kind to others they will be kind to you and you will make a lot of friends,” said Josh Owens, a sixth grader.
“If there was no kindness. It would just be more rough housing and no teamwork, and we wouldn’t get anything done,” Scott Doan, a student.
The basketball players are about the same age, of Josh Stevens who died tragically at the age of 12. His family has taken on the mission–of sharing Josh’s legacy with the world.
“He was kind to everybody. and now that he is gone people want to reach out and say man, this world needs more kids like Josh,” Drew Stevens told the audience of fifth and sixth grade students.
Thru his pain, Stevens encourages everyone to be more kind–like Josh was. He shares this story, about Josh, the athlete, who wouldn’t argue about a bad baseball call:
“He head umpire called it foul. Well everybody in our stands was screaming ‘no, no, no, no.’ You know josh literally came back to the plate, before he picked up the bat, he gave the umpire a double high five and said, ‘good call.’ Even me, I was screaming that wasn’t fair,” said Stevens.
Not fair, Josh was taken so soon. Not dwelling on their loss–his family focuses on teaching others to be like Josh.
Teachers wore shirts, from the Josh Stevens Foundation–two words, one urge.
“We can all be kinder. We can all choose, kindness is something we choose to do so we can all choose to handle situations differently. We can choose not to react in ways we are used to reacting,” said Stevens.
Even though he may feel like grieving, Drew is sharing the memory of his son and his legacy, Be Kind.
I think that Josh was a great person. I also want more kind kids like josh. I’m looking forward to starting success. If I could help I would put my ideas on here. My ideas of t-shirt designs are let’s work together, it’s our belief, stop the bullying, no matter what, and it’ our mission.