In this monologue from the play, “In the Middle”, high-schooler Ryan is speaking up for himself after an altercation at school.
RYAN: Yeah, okay, I threw the punch. I’m not denying it. But I didn’t start it. He pushed me first. And you know what? I wasn’t even mad about that. I could’ve walked away. But then he pushed her. And the way he was looking at her, like she didn’t even matter? Like she wasn’t even a person? No way. I couldn’t just stand there and let him get away with it.
You don’t know what it’s like, standing there in the middle of it all, feeling like you’re the only one who can do something. Everyone else just stared—some of them even laughed. You know how sick that made me feel?
Maybe I was wrong. Maybe there was another way to handle it. But what was I supposed to do? Wait for a teacher to step in? Call for help while he kept shoving her around? I couldn’t just stand there and watch.
Look, I know the rules. ‘Violence isn’t the answer.’ You’ve drilled that into us since kindergarten. But tell me this: what happens when you follow all the rules, and nothing changes? What happens when people like him keep getting away with it because no one has the guts to stop them?
So yeah, I threw the punch. And I’d do it again if I had to. Because standing by and letting people like him keep thinking they can do whatever they want? That’s worse. Way worse.
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