You have most likely heard people say "violence is not the answer." In most cases, they're right. However, I also believe in the right to defend yourself or others.
Once I was in ISS (in school suspension) for, um, "speaking my mind" in class. One of my acquaintances, Leah (name has been changed for privacy) was there too. I eventually found out she was there for hitting a boy. The reason why she hit that boy was because he was sexually harassing her and wouldn't stop. She tried to tell teachers about it, but all he got was a lunch detention for a day (meaning he couldn't sit with his friends during lunch). He kept doing it, and teachers weren't taking Leah seriously, so she must have thought that the thing to do in this situation was to hit him to get him to stop. Are the teachers implying that guys can sexually harass girls all they want? Are they implying that girls should rely on adults to help them? What if adults basically ignored them? Should they not be able to defend themselves? I find this aggravating. It's bad to hit people for no reason, but I think this guy really deserved that punch. No one else was making an effort to stop him, right, so SOMETHING had to be done.
In other words, yes, I think it's wrong to hurt people for no reason. Yes, I think people shouldn't be quick to retaliate. Yes, I agree that people shouldn't be executed for stealing a purple crayon (or for anything really). But if someone is being physically harassed in some way, or someone is trying to kill him/her, it would not be wrong to defend themselves, and people should not frown upon people for defending themselves.
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