Doing the Right Thing
by Jayla Nickens-Gill
How do you help someone who won’t even help themself? How do you be there for someone who has given up on so much in life? How do you do the right thing, even when it’s hard?
I went to school with a girl. I won’t say her name for privacy reasons, but she was always sad and depressed. She never wanted to try anything or do anything. She would sit by herself and just exist, didn’t look like she was even alive, she probably didn’t feel alive. I would stare at her, trying to figure out what she was thinking about, and ways I could help her, but my mind was blank. I could’ve just gone on with my life, not caring about this girl like all the other students, but I couldn't. I knew I had to help her.
One day I decided that I would be a person she could rely on. When I went to school that day, she was sitting down at one of the lunch tables reading a book. As I made my way over to her, I stopped in my tracks as I watched as the “mean” girl pushed the sad girl off the chair. The “mean” girl was way taller than me and the sad girl. I walked over and helped the girl off the floor. That’s when I noticed the cuts on her arm. I felt like someone kicked me in the stomach. I felt like I was going to vomit after seeing...