I Turn Into a Bad Kid at Haydock Junior High School

Jesus says we should turn the other cheek. He says if someone hurts us, we should not fight back. Even if someone hurts us a lot of times, or steals our stuff, we should only give them love and forgiveness. This is a problem, because the kids that used to just yell insults once in a while, when I walked past on my way to the bus stop, now are doing it every day. Then they start throwing stones.

One day when I'm in Sixth Grade, I just can't take any more of it. I go after the kid who was throwing the stones, who's this little brat a couple years younger than me, named Richie. I start hitting Richie. Then he starts hitting me back. Then it's a real fight, and before I know it, I have Richie on the ground and I am hitting him again and again.

“You can stop now,” says this other kid from the neighborhood named Kevin. “You've won.”

I look down and he's right. Richie isn't fighting any more, he's just lying there crying. I turn around and walk the rest of the way to my bus stop, and it turns out the bus hasn't even come yet.

I hope Mama and Daddy haven't heard about the fight. I'm sure I'm going to get in trouble if they have. When I get home though, I am surprised to find that they have heard. What's more, they're proud of me for what I did. I don't get it. Apparently there are some of Jesus' rules that you do have to follow, and others that you don't. I make a mental note. I am sure this fighting thing is going to come in handy again later.

The next fall, I start Junior High School. I am not madly popular, any more than I was in the Sixth Grade. Kids still make fun of me. They push me in the hallways, and call me names all the way home on the school bus. Always before, I've just put my head down and put up with it. I never thought there was much else I could do. Fighting was against school rules (plus Jesus didn't like it), and you couldn't tell the teacher about what other kids did, because then you were a snitch, and they'd hate you even more. But now I know that my parents don't mind me fighting with other kids. Now I have something to do to defend myself. When another kid shoves me, I shove them back. When they hit me, I hit them back. It doesn't make the kids stop picking on me nuch, but it makes me feel better.

Then one day I'm walking through the hallways between classes. Someone shoves me from behind. I turn and see a group of girls going by. None of them look back, but they're laughing, and I think they're laughing at me. I hit the one in the middle. She turns, and I hit her again.

Before it can develop into a real fight, a teacher sees us, and we both end up in the office. Naturally the other girl says she didn't do anything, and she has no idea why I hit her. Her friends say the same thing, and I'm the only one who ends up getting in trouble. Apparently, defending yourself is not such a good idea after all, I think. Maybe my parents liked it the one time I fought, but they're not going to like it if I start getting in trouble at school. Besides, the only people on campus who like me right now are the teachers and administrators. What am I going to do if they start hating me too?

I give up on my good idea of defending myself when someone bullies me. From then on, I just put my head down again and take whatever comes.