Did you ever get in a fight ???

[megomania]

I had several, mostly between 2nd & 6th grades and usually against the same few guys. One kid had serious emotional issues which our lower school failed to address. Finally in 6th grade, the middle school director recognized that there was a real problem, and the kid left our school. One of the other guys was a neighborhood friend. We'd get along fine, and then somehow every couple of weeks we'd wind up punching each other. Happily, we grew out of that nonsense. I hadn't seen him since around 1990, but then last spring he contacted me on Facebook. He's now a Marine and a bodybuilder, and would snap me in half without breaking a sweat. Did I mention that I'm glad that we outgrew fighting for no reason?

Wow you were getting in fights in 2nd grade?

[MysteryWho]

When I was a kid up until the end of high school it was a semi-regular thing. But I was never good at it. I also had a hard time taking it seriously, it seemed absurd or comical somehow. It was always an anxious and surreal experience for me.
However, a couple of years ago I blew a gasket and ended up scrapping with a kid half my age and a lot bigger. I took some hard knocks. The police laughed at me and asked me how much I weighed. I felt like an idiot obviously. Another lesson learned the hard way.
"Note to Self : Learn to Fight."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N_Erfo160g

[HardyGirl]

I guess we were in the same situation in reverse, eh Tom?

In sixth grade I got bused to a primarily all black middle school. One day a boy picked me out in a lunch line to meet him in the bathroom for a fight. I went into the restroom and a crowd of kids gathered around. While he started his speech about teaching me a lesson, I grabbed him and got him in a head lock and shoved him IN the urinal. I asked him if he wanted more and then the chants started. "Flush it! Flush it!!" He continued to resist so I stuck his head back in the urinal and cranked the lever. Everyone laughed and he ran out as the teachers began to show up. To this day I have no idea what that was all about, but I never got picked out of a line again. You can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy. I'm not one who believes much in physical violence, but as Larry Csonka once said, "If you know you're going to get hit, I consider it a higher level of intelligence to do the inflicting first."

[Duncan]

Wow you were getting in fights in 2nd grade?

Yeah, one of the joys of an all boys school and inadequate supervision.

[MIB41]

I guess we were in the same situation in reverse, eh Tom?

We stood our ground for being different. You get my high five on this end. Put her up!

[Fitski]

We got some scrapers in here!! My only fight not against one of my brothers was against 2 kids in a Woolworth's toy department when i was probably 9 or 10.. they were picking on my little bro and tripped him so I started running my mouth and they started to walk towards me and a store worker lady seen what they did and yelled at them, while they were distracted and waiting for her to come around the corner i kicked one guy in the sack and sucker punched the other guy hard in the eye. The lady totally missed what I did, then proceeds to kick the other kids out of the store and apologized to my little brother.

[Wee67]

The last fight (if you could call it that) was in high school. I was one of 6 black kids in a school of over 2000 white kids.

Like Tom, I had the reverse. With the exception I wasn't bused. By the time I was 15, we had moved 13 times, mostly in and out of West Philly. It seemed I was forced to repeat a new kid ritual each time- I would get picked on and then had to "establish" myself in the pecking order with an initiating fight. They were always pretty short and sometimes I even ended up being friends with my opponent a few months later. I always dreaded that each fall.

[Apositive]

Yes, a few times as an adult. It's something I'm not proud of. Knowing martial arts helped but more in the sense of confidence. Fighting just isn't worth it due to the legal problems that are the consequences and the fact that yes- you could hurt someone. Nowadays, I hear so many reports of police abuses that I'm just as concerned about that as I am about getting attacked. I ride public transportation in L.A., so I see lots of fights and minor scuffles- crazy stuff.

[haggis]

Once in grade 5. The guy was always mouthing off to me and we decided to settle it after school. More pushing and shoving than anything else. Ended as soon as he hit the dirt. A cute girl held my jacket for me. Memories. ��

[HardyGirl]

^5

We stood our ground for being different. You get my high five on this end. Put her up!

[Donkey Hoatie]

Very few until I got into college. The ones I did get into as a kid, I generally lost. I was really scrawny and skipped a grade, so I was the youngest in my class and there were kids about 2 grades above who were bullies. Once I got to about 8th grade, things kind of tapered off once the older kids realized that even though I was a nerd, I was good at sports.

Hit a growth spurt at the end of high school and discovered weight lifting as a freshman in college at the University of Illinois. As a sophomore, I started working as a bouncer at a local bar (entry age was only 19) and did that until I graduated. Then, I took a year off and did another 2 year stretch while I got my master's degree. Most nights were quiet, but every once in a while, someone was young enough, dumb enough, and drunk enough to try something stupid. In the end though, most people would test me and then back down, usually after I calmly stated that it was time for them to leave and, "There's two ways out that door: your way, or my way. My way is going to hurt." Most of them went quietly.

Only got scared a couple of times: once when a gangbanger from Chicago came down and ended up pulling a gun on me during a very, very large brawl involving about 20 gangbangers and the same number of townies. Another time when a dude pulled a knife. Got maced once accidentally when one girl was trying to spray another and I happened to turn the corner at just the wrong time.

It was a fun job to have when you're young. Hot girls everywhere. Getting paid to essentially hang out at the bar. Plus, the fringe benefits of getting $2 pitchers of beer on your off nights was tough to beat. My buddies LOVED that I had that job.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Oddly enough, my worst fights happened between former friends. One was a frenemy I finally got tired of putting up with. He was fine when it was just me and him, but turned into a bully when others were around. I was a very timid kid, so I put up with it. But we were playing king of the hill once, and he went too far, so I just snapped and went off on him. It was a lot like Ralphie in "A Christmas Story".

The other one was an even closer friend. The kid had some health issues when he was younger and some learning disabilities. I never picked on him about it, but one day I jokingly called him "dummy" without thinking of it, and he snapped on me. He came at me with his fingernails and cut the beejeezus out of my neck. I threw him into my living room wall. This resulted in a fight between another friend, his older brother. We went at it for what seemed like an hour until we finally just got tired of it and walked away. What was funny was the older brother was always making his younger brother feel stupid.

Another friend of mine was one of the toughest kids in town, and I think that's one reason I avoided fights in school for the most part. They knew if they messed with me, he'd be right on top of them. It pays to know people.

Chris

[Mikey]

Anybody else remember this golden schoolyard phase ... ?

Wanna Fight Wanna Fight ???

Ok, crawl up my a__ and fight for air

[HardyGirl]

No, but at my grade school b/c there were so few white kids, some of the kids (not me) used to say:

"A fight, a fight, a (N word) and a white, if the black don't win, we all jump in."

Man, some kids can be total jerks, can't they?

Anybody else remember this golden schoolyard phase ... ?

Wanna Fight Wanna Fight ???

Ok, crawl up my a__ and fight for air

[Mikey]

No, but at my grade school b/c there were so few white kids, some of the kids (not me) used to say:

"A fight, a fight, a (N word) and a white, if the black don't win, we all jump in."

Man, some kids can be total jerks, can't they?

Yep,

Our highschool had a similar cheer ...

Fight-Fight, N--- and a white --- C'mon N--- beat up on that white.

Actually, now that I think about it my high school was actually pretty progressive. (never thought about it at the time)

We were in the northern NJ sticks and had probably 10 black students (this was 1979-1983).

I seriously can't recall any confrontations or even bullying.

Our black students were all either highly academic or athletically gifted.

I can't remember one incidence where their race ever came into play.

A good portion of my high school were stoned anyway --- and a stoned dude knows no color