Thumbs down! The notorious gesture used by dictators of Rome when they decide on the fate of the gladiators. The colosseum was an arena of judgment in that the strong assumed complete control over the weak. This ideology of domination over others has translated into the current day dictators we call bullies. I know this because I was a gladiator, forced to battle for my life. I was bullied! Being severely bullied was the closest I had come to feeling abused. It left me feeling almost crippled. However, losing myself was the single most important catalyst in rediscovering the person I am today. I will never forget the day I faced adversity in the form of youth dictators that forced me to rationalize my conscience and reaffirm my position. “Monkey in the middle! …show more content…
I’m proud of who I am. Are you?” I exclaimed with a broad smile while looking at the bullies. They were caught off guard; absolutely stunned by the way I had reacted. There was a momentary pause in the class because no one knew how to react to my audacious statement. Before the situation escalated, my teacher carried on with her lesson to diffuse the tension in class. Though the confrontation was brief, it sent a stinging and powerful message to the bullies; I was no longer fazed by their name-calling and degrading remarks as I had become impervious to any diabolical plans hatched by them. School was stressful but more bearable since the incident. I felt lighter and it was easier to breathe because I was no longer carrying my cumbersome bag of worries with me. That day, I felt that I finally caught the ball in the game ‘monkey in the middle’. The truth is I always had the ball. It was in my hands all the time. I was determining the extent of the bullying and more importantly, I was the only one who could put an end to it. Forgiving the youth dictators was the easy part. The hardest thing to do was to forgive myself for the abuse I experienced and let it all go. I am still working on