Free Narrative Essays - Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

817 Words2 Pages

I recall an incident back in my elementary school days, when I was

on the playground during an afternoon recess. My friends and I were

intensely involved in a emotional game of basketball. I had been playing

miserably, so after my fourth brick, I spiked the ball, super bowl

touchdown style against the solid pavement. It began a long process of

ricocheting off the walls of the coverd area and amidst it's air born

flight it somehow managed to collide with the jawbone of a rather thuggish

looking 5th grader. At this time, an ominous dark cloud of rage began

spouting from the disgruntled upperclassmen's nostrils. A large crowd

began chanting, "fight! fight! fight!" that was slowly forming around us

like vultures circling to pick at the bones of the unfortunate loser.

Realizing that the odds of me emerging alive from this mess weren't very

good, I began to think of a strategy that would enable all my major organs

to remain intact. I decided to use humor to defeat this barbaric beast. I

must have ridiculed and made fun of myself over 200 times. I told him that

even if he passed out, in a full body cast , and suffered from leprosy, he

still could wipe the floor with my feeble body. I told him if he didn't

disfigure me, that I would offer to be his own personal reusable toothpick

for as long as he wished.

Violence and nonviolence are two very effective ways to solve

problems, but for people like me whose brains are stronger than their

fists, nonviolence seems much more practic...

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...y major origans. After the crowd began laughing at my foolish self-

directed jokes, the enraged 5th grader quickly switched from steaming in

anger to chuckling along with the rest of the observers. Eventually he

lost interest and went along his way, just in time for me to sharpen my

basketball skills before the bell rang. Much like the example of Martin

Luther King and Malcolm X, I too had the choice of taking one of two roads.

I knew that taking a violent stand would only lead to a dead end. I

chose the road in which many of the most memorable leaders have taken, a

road that has been traveled by few. The nonviolent road. There are many

ways to solve a problem. As a wise man once said, "A coward strikes with

his fist, a warrior strikes with his mind."

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