When I was in eleventh grade and my younger brother was in sixth grade, we would ride the bus to school some days. One day I overheard an older kid talking loudly and then recognized my brother’s voice responding. I waiting a few seconds because I thought it was just a casual loud conversation but then I heard more yelling. I heard the kid calling my brother names and belittling him. I stuck my head out of the seat and saw my brother’s worried face. It looked like the older kid was about to physically hurt him and I knew that I had to step in. I asked the kid what he was doing and he said nothing. I told him to get out of the way and sit back down. Then, I told my brother to come and sit next to me to avoid any conflict. I think that if I hadn’t done anything that a fight could have broken out and my brother could have gotten hurt. I think that even if this wasn’t my brother, I still would have stepped in. I wouldn’t want to see someone else getting hurt if I knew I could do something to help them.

Another situation where I stepped in was in middle school when a group of girls were being verbally abusive to another girl. The other girl wasn’t around them but the group of girls had pulled up a picture of her and they were making fun of the was she looked. I thought that if I was the girl in the picture I would want someone to tell everyone that they should stop being so mean for no reason. So I decided to stand up for the girl in the picture and tell them to put it away. I said it was a very mean thing to do and although they looked at me weirdly, they stopped making fun of her. Although this wasn’t a situation where someone could have gotten physically abused, the girl could have gotten mentally abused which can sometimes be worse. When something is physical, the pain can go away, but when someone hurts you emotionally and mentally, that can stick with you forever.

When I was younger and in third grade, a girl got mad at me and threatened to kick me if I didn’t move and let her sit in my seat. I refused to get up and move because it wasn’t her seat and I had gotten there first. She then kicked me because I didn’t get in. I think because of this situation and because of similar situations I faced when I was younger, I try my best to help out those who I think could be in trouble. However, if something seemed to be a dangerous situation I would not interfere and risk making everything worse. It it were a dangerous situation where I know that people could get seriously injured I would call the police and report it. I think that it is important to know when it is okay to intervene and when it is not safe to.