“Violence – noun – behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something.” – Oxford Languages

Violence is interesting. Seen everywhere like in television, video games, books, it garners the attention of people young and old and gets them excited or intrigued. Most people are disgusted by the violence though, which people can’t really blame them for. Gunfights, fistfights, be it entertainment or reality, people involved in these will always end up being in regret, sadness, fear and more. Violence is and always will be a plague, and this plague has infected schools nearly everywhere, including ours.

Since the creation of schools, students have always decided to duke things out via physical force, sometimes for mishearing something and deciding to lash out, sometimes from being tired of taking crap from people, and more. It’s messy, and in the end nobody wins, as not only does it make the victim or enabler grow to be a hateful, terrible, resentful person, but it affects learning which can, and will, negatively impact you. Fortunately, Dr. Nelson, our current building principal, has cracked down on these school fights, preventing them by making sure to get the parents of people involved in these fights involved too, with the help of counselors as well. As a compassionate person, Mr. Nelson doesn’t appreciate violence in a place of education.

He feels that “it’s upsetting and frustrating.” He is compassionate about the safety and security of his school. As principal, he cares about his students and dislikes fights as aforementioned, claiming it’s a “waste of time and dangerous,” which is true. 

Although they have been working hard to make sure violence doesn’t exist in a place of education and learning, it’s sad to say that people still start them.

Nelson has stated how “there’s been more fights outside of the bathroom, than inside.” This shows us that people aren’t afraid to harm one another in public, for whatever reason I don’t know, other than that people probably want to do it “right here right now.” Although violence in this school is something that is constantly stopped and put down, something which me and everyone else appreciates, we all know that violence is never gone.

Our school nurse Marcy Watkins shares the same views I have as well, but even though we can never stop it permanently, stopping it temporarily is something that can still help us in the long run. She states that there have been an increase of hall monitors within our school, making sure the kids are in-line.

In the end, violence is obviously bad. Ranging from miscommunication between two or more people to petty arguments, anything can lead to a fist in the face. Me personally? I wouldn’t let myself slide into feeling anger and using physical pain as a tool to enforce my own opinions or do what I think is “right.” Although one could use the excuse of how using our mouth, fighting verbally and all could help, one needs to remember that fights can be provoked by talking by doing things such as making fun of someone, belittling them, or acting critically insulting towards them, which makes people unable to control their anger. What I think could help would be the ability to manage that anger, stop yourself from being provoked, ask for help from your peers if necessary so that they stop whatevers causing you to fight. 

Our teachers, counselors, just staff members in general, are willing to help the next generation(s) of sports players, lawyers, and leaders, into stopping us from doing something which could ruin our lives for years to come.

“Violence is a crime against humanity, for it destroys the very fabric of society.” – Pope Paul John II