The path not taken ; How violence is never the way to go, even if you’re a boxer

I came into this session expecting to hear a tale of how racial profiling had lead to the loss or cancellation of a career-changing match, but that isn’t what the story was about. Instead of being a story set inside the professional world, it was set in a was something that could happen to literally anyone, instead of being specific to the boxer. However, the fact that the speaker was a boxer really allowed me to learn from the lesson and impacted me the most. The reason for this is that even though, Mr Sanjay Perera, was in the boxing team for his college, and had his whole boxing team in the club with him, he chose to take the comment well, and combat hostility with wit, and not brute force. This is that story

One day, Mr Perera had found himself in a pub, in one of the more rough parts of the place he lived in at the time. He was accompanied by his boxing team and their coach.

 

While going to the bar to get another round of beer for his teammates, he encountered 3 big white men, who made it extremely difficult for him to get to the counter, by blocking his way.

 

After persisting, he was confronted by these white men. The biggest one said, “I’m gonna kick your teeth out you black bastard”. Mr Perrera was shocked by the comment and saw multiple ways to go about it. Firstly, he could go outside and wait for his team to back him up in a fight. Secondly he could punch the guy right there, and hope his team would back him up in time, and lastly, he could diffuse the whole situation with one witty comment.

At that moment, Mr Perrera made the right choice. He stood his ground, stared the man right in the eyes and said “I’m black? Does dad know?” in reference to the movie ‘See no evil, hear no evil’. That single comment diffused the situation and all the hatred emitted by the men suddenly turned into jovial laughter.

The moral of the story for me is that there’s always a better way to handle anger, whether it’s your own or someone else’s, and violence is an unnecessary output of temper.

 

 

 

 

 

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