JeffreyJohnston.org

"If everyone believed they had a voice,
imagine how loud that noise would be!"

If you can imagine a world without hate or fear, then you have an idea of the world my son dreamed of. It wasn't that he was silly or naive or even unrealistic. On the contrary, he was exceptionally bright and well-informed. He just believed in even one person had the power to change the world, if he worked at it hard enough. Why wouldn't he? As far back as he could remember, people had been saying "That little boy is going to change the world!" This site is dedicated to Jeffrey.

For three years, he was the target of a relentless bully, both in school and online. Throughout it all, Jeff never retaliated with words or actions, and never gave up trying to make peace. In the end, it was the loss of faith in himself that led him to give in to despair. In a final note to those he left behind, he wrote "Dreams are only dreams, and the world cannot change no matter how hard you try..."

Over the next three years hundreds of students, parents, and teachers worked diligently to ensure that Jeff's dream of a better world did not die too. In June 2008, The Jeffrey Johnston "Stand Up for All Students" Act was signed into law, setting the standard as the best bullying legislation in the nation. I would never have imagined that a world filled with so much tragedy would take notice of the suffering of just one child, but then I would never have imagined that one person had the power to change the world. Maybe I was wrong about that too.