A bus full of adults watched as a grown man sat beside that young girl (when there were plenty of seats to choose from)And aggressively, relentlessly, questioned her about her self-harm scars. She was clearly a young teenager. You all watched as he asked where she was getting off, did she want some company, how did she get those scars in the first place? And you all watched as I walked over and asked her to sit beside me. You all watched as I, a 15 year old girl, put my body between this grown man and another teenage girl.
You all watched as he verbally berated both of us. You all watched as I shepherded her off the bus, and stayed behind to make sure he didn’t follow her. You all looked away when I tried to catch your eye. There was no mistaking what was happening. You let two teenagers fend for themselves until the noise died down, and you could go back to the comfort of a silent bus ride. If the worst had happened that day, would you have spoken up then? Would you have drawn the line at physical violence? And if so, why not before?
I spoke up that day, alone, I will always be glad that I did, and I hope you will always regret that you didn’t. I hope you learned from that day the way that I was forced to. I can’t send this letter. So today I release my anger towards you. I release my grudge. Instead I wish on your behalf that next time, you will have the strength to speak the fuck up.
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