Article January 1, 2003 Issue

“I regretted that I had retaliated”

Ellie Aylward—Cheltenham, England

I was in the girls’ changing rooms after a P.E. (physical education) lesson. The girl next to me insulted one of my best friends so badly that it made her cry. My friend ran off, and I turned around and tried to resolve the situation with the girl, but her reply was even more insulting. Suddenly something snapped. I punched the girl quite hard, and she ran off, crying.

The people who saw this gasped, because I usually behave in a gentle manner and I'd never been in a fight before. The girl I hit was stronger than I and twice my size. She also had a reputation for hitting people. Immediately I regretted the fact that I had retaliated. I felt numb and went straight home and told my mum, which was the hardest thing for me. We then sat down together and talked about how I could resolve this. I decided that prayer was the answer. So I prayed that God would help me think about this girl in a better way. I realised that this fight was just an excuse to let out anger and stress. Both of us were actually reflections of God, and that meant that we couldn't be in conflict with one another.

The next day in school the girl apologised for saying horrible things. And I apologised for hitting her. My friend came up to me, very surprised, and said that the girl had apologised to her as well. This was very unusual, because the girl had never before apologised to someone in school, in front of other people.

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