My Stand
Author: Carlo@hoGc // Category:happened in a school. A lot of times my replies have been seemingly
passive using replies such as "oh my" or "what the..". But right now
it has - what Malcolm Gladwell (author of The Tipping point and
Outliers) call - reached the tipping point and that enough people have
been asking me about it that I'm finally going to voice it out.
I'm going to refrain from being too preachy. As a matter of fact in
this post I'll try to not be preachy about my views. I fairly know
that most of the times when it comes to posts about my views, it
becomes kind of preachy. So this time it won't. I'm just going to
state my views about the whole incident and that's it. Please take
note (this is especially for all the flamers) : these are my views and
if you have qualms over my views do it on your blog and not my tagboard.
3 questions that I'm often asked:
1) Who is wrong?
2) Where/With whom do you stand?
3) What do you think should be done now?
Before everything else, let me name the suspect James and the victim
Aaron. I don't want to reveal their real names as this is after all a
global blog averaging a few hundred views per day. So for those who
know their real name, I have one thing to say to you: please keep it
to yourself.
So here we go! I shall begin by answering the very first question, who
is wrong.
To me both are wrong BUT if I weigh both their misdoings, I would
totally say that James is totally in the wrong. His acts alone is
uncalled for, irresponsible, immature/childish and uncouth. It is a
clear indicator to me that he has no life at all. If he had a life, he
won't be doing such things, he would be with his friends talking about
the soccer game the previous night or something. Compared to avid
gamers playing computer games for almost more than 10 hours per day,
his acts can be categorized to having totally no life. The question
that runs through my mind is why did he do it? What is he trying to
prove? That he is cool? At the expense of other people? Sometimes
these kind of people makes me sick because they use other people for
their own wants. Inhumane maybe? I mean didn't the question "What
would I feel if someone did this to me?" ever come up?
Gosh.
Ok. Before I start to become preachy I shall move on.
I think it's fairly clear by now that I stand with Aaron. I'm not
standing with him with the notion that I'm encouraging him to do more
of what he has done or encouraging him that what he did was totally
not wrong but merely, I'm standing with him because I feel that, even
though he is in the wrong, he was able to realize his mistake and
actually apologize for what he did. In a way, even though I don't know
him that well and I wish I could know him or even have a conversation
with him, my heart goes out to him. This is not what an average
teenager should be facing. Emotionally scarred, I just pray that it
heals. Right now he should be right out there carefree, having a
vision and working for his vision to move on to a better class and
better future. But instead, he has to face with piercing stares from
people, with silent murmurs every time he walks by and with
condescending attitudes from others. I think he doesn't deserve this
in his life right now. A lot of people will say that it's good that he
is able learn now so that he won't make the same mistake again next
time and yes I agree! 100%!
BUT not this way. Not in such an emotionally and life scarring way. I
really feel that he did not deserve this.
Moving on.
What do I think should be done now?
I'm going to be an authoritarian on this one and say caning,
suspension and a public apology. I think even with those, it is still
not enough to repay the damages that he have made to Aaron's life.
If it turns out that James has a gang and they happen to read this and
decides to kill me..
I say come on.
I did nothing wrong but voice my opinion and be bold about it. I know
the risk that I'm taking by posting this and I am not afraid of
anything that may happen. For me, I'm all out in defending Aaron.
For those who have given him support, not giving up on him (especially
the volleyball boys), I say Good Job. You are True Friends indeed. You
are friends that should be treasured because you stood by him
regardless of circumstances. You are all treasures because nowadays it
is kind of hard to find friends like that. My perspective of the
volleyball boys have now been changed thanks to all of you.
If by any chance, Aaron decides to come to read my blog (I don't know
whether you already do read it), here is a message for you from the
bottom of my heart:
I can't say that I fully understand what you feel right now but I can
only imagine. Most people your age will just totally give up at this
point of time and take their lives but you didn't and I just can't put
in words how proud I am that you didn't. Even more so that you decided
to stand back up straight and confident even after suffering from a
major fall. For that, I would like to commend you and give you a pat
on the back with a "good job".
I really hope that you will get over any barriers and strongholds that
may be blocking and keeping you down soon. I believe that you will
reach your visions and your goals for the future. More than that I
believe that you will have a great future and you will have an even
better life ahead of you from now on.
All the best for your future endeavors and I hope that I can have the
pleasure of chatting with you.
The End
Regards,
Carlo Miguel Saavedra
(This post was typed entirely out from iPod Touch)
