"It's Okay..."

Last year in 5th grade, I was new to ISKL Melawati and I didn't know many people. But around the middle of the year, I started to sort of, you know, fit in. At the end of the year, there was a track and field meet and I was taking part in the 200m sprint, 50m sprint or 100m sprint (I don't know which one), long jump, softball throw and the relay with all my friends. I was 1 of out 2 girls who were selected to run in the relay. Let's just call my friends Bobby, Freddy and Mary.

Mary was getting ready to put us in a big lead. She leaped off the starting line and zoomed off like a cheetah. She held the gold baton in her hand and in the next person's eyes, I could see the tension between the baton and him. She passed off the baton to Bobby and he just sprinted off like there was a giant bulldozer behind him. We were all shouting, "GO GO GO!" and I was the next one up. At about 1 meter away, I could see Bobby. He had a sense of concentration in his eyes. But bad luck fell upon him.

About about half a meter away, the baton slipped out of his hand and fell onto the grass! We were all disappointed and you could hear the crowd go, "Awww..." I just screamed at that Bobby, "It's fine! Don't worry about it! Just pick it up!" He quickly picked it up and sprinted for his life. Bobby passed the baton to me and I was just running like there was no tomorrow! I passed it off to Freddy and he just ran as fast as he could to make up for the lost time. Freddy actually ran like he was a thief being chased by a angry mob of people. In the end, we got 2nd place and we were all like, "YES!" And high-fiving each other. Bobby, who dropped the baton, was walking off and sniffling. I could hear everyone saying to Bobby, "Why the heck did you do that?" and "You know we could have won if you DIDN'T drop the baton?" I got so mad at them and I just felt like saying, "Be proud that we actually ran! Because if we didn't, we wouldn't have won a place in the top three. So please just STOP BULLYING HIM!" But instead I chose to comfort the victim so that he was alright.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked Bobby. He was sitting on the curb of the ramp near the Melawati gym. He said that he didn't mean to drop and that it just slipped out of his hand. I knew that but I don't think anyone else did. I gave Bobby a big hug and whispered, "You know, they got ice-cream and I'm pretty sure that you want some :)" He said yeah and I helped him up from where we were sitting and we walked down the ramp to get some ice-cream.

In my opinion, everyone should not be punished or bullied by just making one mistake. The mistake won't scar them for life but just a big part of it. If I had the same situation happen once, I would stand up for Bobby and tell everyone to just respect him and to not bother him. After all, it's just life. Two goals that I have that could help everyone in ISKL, is maybe joining or starting an Anti-Bullying Campaign so that nobody would get bullied in ISKL as a goal. Another goal is to report any signs of bullying to Ms. Thompson. I don't want to be a tattle-tale or a teacher's pet, but I want this school to be safe and not full of bullies. Last year when Ms. Thompson and the 6th grade peer helpers cam over to Melawati, 1 person asked if there were any bullies. The peer helpers said no but I think there are some bullies who push and shove as they please. I think bullying is a very big issue around the world and I hope not EVERYONE wants to stop it. Not just me or ISKL.