Control

Imagine...

You're sitting in your usual seat at the school canteen. Suddenly, somebody turns and hit you hard on the back... 

What do you do? You should take revenge don't you? Turn around and hit the person to be fair. So you do and then the fight begins.

I find that this type of situation happens way too often. Whether it's something as simple as a poke or as serious as a punch. When this happens, people tend to act subconsciously. But wait! The other person started it didn't they? Why should we keep quiet and endure it? 

The way I see it, the person who tempts you first is the "bad guy" and once you react, you immediately become the "bad guy" as well. That makes you no different from them.

A fun fact about me: I'm not ticklish. Even though it's been established as a fact to everybody at school, some people still want to poke me sometimes. When they do, I don't squirm or laugh at all. They would poke again and walk away.

These people are looking for fun and trouble as well. The moment you react, they get what they want. To prevent this, you simply don't give them what they want: don't react.

This happened just last Thursday. A real troublemaker at my school turned around and spoke foul language to my Korean friend (he's a boy), tempting him for absolutely no logical reason. Without thinking, my friend stood up and the two ended yelling bad words in Korean at each other. Truthfully, I think it's really stupid of both of them. If my friend had ignored him, the other boy would get bored (and embarrassed since he's just talking to himself) and turn around to keep eating.

I suggest, for the next week or two, keep your eyes open for these types of situations. Look to see if the other person reacts and see how it ends.

I do realize it's something that's not easy to do at first because in that exact moment, it's almost like your brain is in control of your body instead of your soul. It takes practice, I guess.

This has always been something that bothers me because it's so obvious and yet nobody seems to notice. It's amazing what you discover when you realize what's right in front of you.