My daughter called me. Seems her son, a fifth grader, was attacked by a boy in his class. The boy had been doing stuff all year to my grandson. My grandson — who is a lot like his father, uncle, grandmother, great grandfather, and great-great grandfather — is a lover, not a fighter.
That is, he comes from a long line of peace-loving people who go out of their way to avoid conflicts chuckleheads like to chase.
But at the end of this school year the chucklehead in question was not to be avoided any longer. First he hit my grandson, then opened a pair of scissors and threw them forcefully at my grandson.
And that, according to my grandson, is when "I pounded on him and I won."
My grand got two days in-school suspension. The principal said it was because he was fighting. (His version of the story corroborates everything my daughter told me about her conversation with the principal.)
I don't like that. But I hear about and read stories of this all the time. In public schools the victims who defend themselves get punished most.
This is wrong. I will repeat that: That is wrong.
My grandson's parents didn't agree with his punishment either, but neither spoke up. They each told him privately he did the right thing, but then they weren't in his corner against bad policy. Frankly, I couldn't believe it and told my daughter so.
"Nothing we can do about it," said she.
They don't see the end result of this inaction on their part. They supported the bully over the victim whether they think so or not. They supported a socialist principal against an innocent victim. They seem to think peace at all costs is the way to go.
But the long line mentioned above that my grand comes from knows better. Each of us have made a habit of allowing chuckleheads every opportunity to walk away, but when the attack comes, we do not run and we respond definitively. Chucklehead does not come back.
As my grandson said, "He could've killed me with those scissors, so I had to hurt him."
Damn straight, boy.
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