GLENDALE, Ariz. -- David Johnson feels that there is one way in particular that he can help change the world. It’s with the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Johnson would know. While the Arizona Cardinals' star running back was in elementary school in Clinton, Iowa, there was an older boy who lived in his neighborhood and went to a different school, and that boy bullied Johnson for years. Johnson kept it to himself instead of telling his family. That’s just the type of person Johnson says he is. He’d rather stay quiet and “continue like everything’s OK” than, as he called it, complain to others.
Johnson, now 25, never forgot the feeling of being tormented for no reason, being scared to go out and looking over his shoulder on the way home from school. He never forgot the pit in his stomach or the fear that it left in him. In college at the University of Northern Iowa, Johnson decided he wanted to help children, and he wanted to do what he could to make sure other kids didn’t feel like that, so he studied to become a physical education teacher.
But life had other plans. Football took over, leading him to the NFL and the Cardinals. Now with a platform that is nearly impossible to top, Johnson has taken on bullying as a cause where he feels he can have an impact. He wore cleats representing STOMP Out Bullying, a nonprofit working to “reduce and prevent” bullying of all kinds.
On Tuesday, Johnson stood in front of about 80 students to expound on the virtues of respect, inclusiveness and simply being nice to one another as part of an anti-bullying initiative involving four school districts in Arizona. Looking the part of the teacher he trained to be, Johnson stood in front of the group and walked them through the curriculum.
After he went through his slides, Johnson answered questions ranging from his first football game to his feelings about being bullied.
“That’s one of the best things that I can do with my platform that I have: impact kids, be there for the kids, be a light for the kids, let them know that if they’re bullied that they can get through it and have a successful life,” Johnson said. “That was one of my most important things. That was one of my all-time mottos that I want to portray while I’m doing what I’m doing.”
Getting bullied for years, an ordeal he outlined in a first-person account for The Players’ Tribune last November, taught Johnson to be respectful of anyone and everyone, regardless of their race, religion or sexual orientation.
“You never know what’s going on in that person’s life,” he said.
Johnson is over the incidents, but he hasn’t forgotten the scars they left. During his question-and-answer session, Johnson said he didn’t think the bully knew he was actually bullying. But if he ever saw the bully now, Johnson said he’d forgive him. However, he has no desire to see him.
Johnson said parents of children who have been bullied approach him in public, which shows him that his message is spreading. It probably couldn't be more relevant than it is today, when the national conversation is focused on intolerance of many stripes.
Johnson didn’t want to get political after Tuesday’s presentation. He just said he will stick to his own motto: Respect others.
“It’s so much more important, just because, especially now with the bullying and now with the cyber-bullying on social media,” Johnson said. “I feel like it is very important to teach kids, especially this generation that’s growing up, that you should always respect others, and you should always treat others the way you want to be treated.”