I hurt you because someone hurt me because of someone who hurt him because of someone who hurt him. That's all life is, isn't it? Chain reactions? The stories are all the same, right? For the most part. Kid bullies another kid because he comes from an abusive household, where he has no control. But when he beats the shit out of little Joe, he has all the control. He has all the power. Life is just a bunch of dominoes, it seems like all we can do is watch them fall.
Bobby would sit in his English class during first period. He would think about how fucked up his life was and how alone in the world he was. Nicholas, one of Bobby’s classmates, liked to pick on him. He would always call him weak and ugly, just like a lot of the other kids. But Bobby was basically told by his parents to not fight back.
"Kill 'em with kindness," his dad would say. "If someone talks bad about you, just say 'thank you' and move on." Bobby would never go as far as to thank them, but he didn’t say much back. His father took joy out of humiliating him and making him feel powerless because he himself felt powerless in his own life. You see, Bobby grew up in an “I say ‘jump,’ you say ‘how high’” kind of household. The kind of household where you don’t say anything back, even if you were in the right.
His parents would tell him that if he got in a fight in school, they were going to ground him, giving him the impression that they didn't care if he were in the wrong or not. This gave Bobby the message that it is wrong to fight back, even though he knew in his heart that fighting back was the right thing to do.
There were other things going on as well but for the sake of time, we’re not going to get into that.
When Bobby was in the seventh grade, he had gotten into a fight at school. One day in the cafeteria, Bobby was kidding around and tried to skip the lunch line. One kid doesn't let him skip so Bobby goes back to his original spot in the line. But Calvin, one of Bobby's friends, isn't having it so he pushes him and tells him to go to the back of the line.
But Bobby is tired of getting pushed around and being disrespected by everyone around him. So what does Bobby do? He pushes him back. Bobby feels a moment of empowerment. Like he had regained some sense of control. But Calvin immediately grabs Bobby and starts beating the shit out of him.
But what does Bobby do? Nothing. As he's getting punched and pushed around the lunch room, he doesn't even try to do anything. Why? Because he didn't think he was supposed to.
He was told that it was wrong. And Calvin proceeded to embarrass Bobby in front of the entire 7th grade class and nobody tried to do a damn thing. It was the worst day of Bobby's life and it haunts him to this very day.
