From Helplessness To Empowerment; The Need To Stand Up For Others.

We live in a world where people take advantage of their fellow human weaknesses just because they have an edge over them, I have seen people oppress others financially, with physical strength and connection. Throughout my Junior school, I had experiences of being helpless in many situations where I couldn't stand up for myself and can relate very well to situations like that now. Even as an adult, I have been bullied and still felt helpless because of what the world has become today, it's majority of Nigeria youth still get bullied by the people who are meant to protect them.

For every human in their right senses, bullying should be the last thing on our minds. I find the act really disgusting and it makes me feel terrible when I see people being bullied but can't intervene. It happens every day around us and sometimes, many of us just have to look away because the situation is something bigger than what we can handle.

The world is messed up and for some humans, they have lost it all; they don't have a pinch of conscience. They go about looking for victims to feast on and after doing their evil deed, I can't imagine how they still go on about with their lives knowing very well that they had hurt something either physically or emotionally.

I have been able to stand up for people several times most especially when it is a situation I can handle without expecting any form of consequences because I did one that backfired in school and almost got me caught up in a fight with some bad boys on campus, it was only God intervention that saw me through. Today, as much as I would love to help anyone, I wouldn't try to put my life on the line for any reason.

My most recent experience happened about two weeks ago and the situation was very much within my power so it was easy for me. Before the situation happened, I went to get some items from a shop on my street a long time ago and on my way back, I met my neighbour's daughter who was also coming from somewhere. She is between the age of 14-16 and we interact a lot since I always help the family with a few things. Immediately she saw me, she said, "Thank God" and quickly rushed to my side.

It was clear that she was running from something or someone so I checked around and saw three guys standing far behind us. I didn't know who they were or if they had anything to do with the girl but they were the only reason why I thought she ran to me.

After that time, I saw these guys walking behind her again on the street and it was more like she was hurrying to lose those guys. It became clear to me that they were stalking her so I had it in mind to intervene if it happened again.

Two weeks ago, I was returning from an outing when I saw my neighbour's daughter coming and those guys were trying to talk to her but she didn't give them an audience so I stopped her when they got to me and asked what was happening.

She explained that those guys had been stalking her on the street for a long time and she didn't want to have anything to do with them. She even explained that there are times when those guys would stay in her way with dogs because they know she is scared of dogs.

I turned to the guys and they were unfamiliar faces. Even though they were younger than me, I still had to talk to them politely because sometimes these boys are more than what you think they are.

I told them that girl was a kid and they shouldn't be stalking her. To make things easier for myself, I even called her my sister and we all went our separate ways. I had to intervene for different reasons and the biggest of them is that my neighbourhood is always quiet and we have had two rape cases on that street in broad daylight so to prevent things like that from happening, it was important for someone to intervene.

I asked the girl why she didn't tell anyone about it and she said their mom was aware but hadn't done anything about it because she leaves the house early and only returned home at night every day. The girl narrated what happened to her mom and she came to thank me but I made it clear to her that she shouldn't take things like that lightly because the devil doesn't announce when it would strike.

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People need to start understanding the effect of bullying is deep and can result into anything for the victim. It's important that we just live right, it's our easiest way of making the world a better place.