The Making of a Young Bully

As I was walking the campus of my high school before school, I was pretty much left alone by the other students. I entered the math building to go to my first class and was inundated by a flood of people meandering about. As I attempted to make my way through the crowd, they parted before me, providing unobstructed room to pass. I looked at the faces of hundreds of students as each of them avoided making eye contact, trying not to draw attention to themselves. The one person who looked me in the eye, quickly looked away, but it was too late; I had found my next victim. He was a half-back on the football team, weighing about 180 pounds and was over 6’ tall. None of this mattered to me; nobody could beat me in a fight, I have been doing this for a very long time. Brent Staples talks about intimidation and fear in his essay “Just Walk on By”, in which he states that “Many things go into the making of a young thug.” My childhood is a testament to this statement. My father deliberately trained me to be able to defend myself, both physically and mentally in an effort to prepare me from the harshness of life; my brothers taught me the joy of fighting, as well as intimidation tactics. Bullies are not spontaneously created out of thin air; they are the result of many years, sometimes generations, of abuse, whether physical, emotional, or psychological. Often, you can blame their upbringing, but ultimately, the final decision is theirs.

“One of these things is the consummation of the male romance with the power to intimidate,” (Staples). The word “romance” Staples is using here tells us that until the intimidation is cemented (consummated) with actual results (positive reinforcement), it is still in the fantasy (romance) stage of developmen...

... middle of paper ...

...and intelligence the build a strong, educated, and moral community.

I am not proud of what I used to believe, what I considered my “personal honor and values”, and the people I have hurt along the way. Quite frankly, I am ashamed of my adolescent behavior; I do not blame my father for what he taught me, I blame myself for what I did with that knowledge. However, due to the many lessons I have learned in the last few decades, I am no longer the boy of my childhood. Since my past cannot be undone though, the best that I can hope for is that I can pass my knowledge to others so they do not repeat my horrible mistakes.

Works Cited

Staples, Brent. “Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space.” Patterns for College Writing: A Rhetorical Reader and Guide. 12th ed. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Boston: Bedford, 2012. 240-3. Print.