We began our latest interview without a Vikings game to lament.
So I asked Obadiah if he knew why I wanted to interview him, with no game to lament.
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He said, "You want to talk to me about the basic things in my life and my story."
After I said yes, he sighed and went on.
"Well, I was born with a cleft lip and palate," Obadiah said.
"I had a couple of surgeries at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis and you know, sometimes, I feel like I do look different," Obadiah said.
Yes, because of the cleft lip and palate Obadiah does look "different," and yes, because of that, he is at times treated differently. Teased.
"Sometimes I feel like people don't like me because I am different," he said. "I feel lame, unheard, and sometimes I feel sad or angry that I'm not just a normal person."
Obadiah's differences in appearance bear no weight on his ability to understand the world, or to have his feelings hurt.
Not at all.
"Sometimes some kids look at me weird or say something mean like, 'you look creepy' or 'you look like an alien,'" Obadiah said.
I asked how hearing that made him feel.
"It doesn't feel great," he said.
But he is also 8 years old, so he is able to bounce back.
And bounce higher, because he's got one heck of a mom teaching him how to deal with all of it.
Vanessa Gamble minces no words when she talks about how painful it is as Obadiah's mother to know he gets bullied or teased.
But she is completely committed to teaching her son, and her two daughters, that it's OK to be different and to always stand up for what's right, even if it isn't popular.
That message resonates with Obadiah every single day.
I asked him why he thinks people bully other people.
"Sometimes they are jealous and they want to take charge," he said.
But he added for himself, and for all others who are the targets of these taunts, "Just don't let it burn you. Don't let it take away from your joy and your kindness."
I asked him one last question.
I asked him if he thought he was born like this for a reason.
He said yes.
I asked him what was the reason.
He said, "To bring joy."
Watch more Obadiah stories below: