Post by Emily Suddenfield on Mar 25, 2016 23:29:41 GMT -8
She shook her head. He was saying the same thing, thinking that pitting her actions into the equation changed the reality of his own words.
"I know where we are. I became School Captain so that I could protect people who are too weak to stand up to those who want to break the rules. But just because i agree with some decisions the government makes, doesn't mean i give tacit approval to everything they do. I don't agree with this system- but I agree with law and order and justice. But your mindset isn't any of those things. Pitting your idea of justice in this situation is flawed- I already said you had a right to defend yourself. As do I and have I. I never once in this conversation stated that you need to lay down and take it. You do, however, need to give someone the chance to change their minds. To think about their actions and decide to make another one. As a police officer, you'd do exactly the same thing. You are clearly so engrained in this idea that this twisted sense of justice you feel is the only justice that teaches that you don't realize you just made my point for me. That people think they can break the rules, then get busted because they couldn't escape punishment. At a young age, the feeling of self-invincibility is ever present. When you learn that others are watching, that you'll have to pay in a way that's just not fun...you learn and grow from it. If you don't, the punishment and payment gets steeper."
She looked around the gym, then pointed with a thumb over her shoulder.
"The proof is in the pudding. I'm in here, talking to you...and outside, a vast majority of those kids are going to class. Eating lunch. Reading. Doing homework. Playing games together. There are a select few who believe themselves above the law, there is no denying it. And in cases where simple punishment- a slap on the wrist, as you call it- doesn't work, I'll be there to see that their actions and continued offenses garner harsher punishments. As any body of law would. But I sure as hell won't take what could very well be the first offense and treat it as all offenses across the board- responding to actions of disorderly conduct and bullying with nothing but the same in the hopes that will change them? You think kids like that are just that way for no reason? No, they probably have a father at home that beats the shit out of them. Or have an older brother that does it. They'll see your attacks as nothing more than bad luck- and just like with their father at home, they'll turn the pain you dealt onto them and turn it on someone else without looking over their shoulder for you- at least, they would had i not gotten involved. In the same way they weren't looking over their shoulder for daddy."
She would pull back her hood and step forward.
"Let me and you be clear about something, kid."
She stared up at him.
"I don't know you. I don't know most people. All I can do is give you a chance, like i do everyone. I want you to rethink your idea of justice without representation. Pain without understanding. Strength to be met with strength. I want you to see things differently- and just like I'll give those three boys the chance to decide that beating people up to feel better about their lives won't actually change a thing, I'll give you a chance to rethink that statement. If you refuse, and I find you in a situation like this, I'll do the same as I'll do to them, if I find they haven't learned. I'm not trying to threaten you, agent of the Correctional Police. I'm trying to give you a chance to change. Take that chance and do with it what you will. Either way, I'll be watching and what will be will be."
If her system was a double standard, if what he saw from her was some threat, then she'd put an end to it just from his promise at the end. No. Her purpose was simple- to give him a chance. Her words of cutting his legs out from under him were no more than she'd give those three before they left detention tonight. "If you do this again, the punishment will be much steeper.". It was an afterthought. Nothing more than a promise- that she would do her job, no matter what.
She'd pull up her hood, even if he was talking and turn and start walking away.
"I know where we are. I became School Captain so that I could protect people who are too weak to stand up to those who want to break the rules. But just because i agree with some decisions the government makes, doesn't mean i give tacit approval to everything they do. I don't agree with this system- but I agree with law and order and justice. But your mindset isn't any of those things. Pitting your idea of justice in this situation is flawed- I already said you had a right to defend yourself. As do I and have I. I never once in this conversation stated that you need to lay down and take it. You do, however, need to give someone the chance to change their minds. To think about their actions and decide to make another one. As a police officer, you'd do exactly the same thing. You are clearly so engrained in this idea that this twisted sense of justice you feel is the only justice that teaches that you don't realize you just made my point for me. That people think they can break the rules, then get busted because they couldn't escape punishment. At a young age, the feeling of self-invincibility is ever present. When you learn that others are watching, that you'll have to pay in a way that's just not fun...you learn and grow from it. If you don't, the punishment and payment gets steeper."
She looked around the gym, then pointed with a thumb over her shoulder.
"The proof is in the pudding. I'm in here, talking to you...and outside, a vast majority of those kids are going to class. Eating lunch. Reading. Doing homework. Playing games together. There are a select few who believe themselves above the law, there is no denying it. And in cases where simple punishment- a slap on the wrist, as you call it- doesn't work, I'll be there to see that their actions and continued offenses garner harsher punishments. As any body of law would. But I sure as hell won't take what could very well be the first offense and treat it as all offenses across the board- responding to actions of disorderly conduct and bullying with nothing but the same in the hopes that will change them? You think kids like that are just that way for no reason? No, they probably have a father at home that beats the shit out of them. Or have an older brother that does it. They'll see your attacks as nothing more than bad luck- and just like with their father at home, they'll turn the pain you dealt onto them and turn it on someone else without looking over their shoulder for you- at least, they would had i not gotten involved. In the same way they weren't looking over their shoulder for daddy."
She would pull back her hood and step forward.
"Let me and you be clear about something, kid."
She stared up at him.
"I don't know you. I don't know most people. All I can do is give you a chance, like i do everyone. I want you to rethink your idea of justice without representation. Pain without understanding. Strength to be met with strength. I want you to see things differently- and just like I'll give those three boys the chance to decide that beating people up to feel better about their lives won't actually change a thing, I'll give you a chance to rethink that statement. If you refuse, and I find you in a situation like this, I'll do the same as I'll do to them, if I find they haven't learned. I'm not trying to threaten you, agent of the Correctional Police. I'm trying to give you a chance to change. Take that chance and do with it what you will. Either way, I'll be watching and what will be will be."
If her system was a double standard, if what he saw from her was some threat, then she'd put an end to it just from his promise at the end. No. Her purpose was simple- to give him a chance. Her words of cutting his legs out from under him were no more than she'd give those three before they left detention tonight. "If you do this again, the punishment will be much steeper.". It was an afterthought. Nothing more than a promise- that she would do her job, no matter what.
She'd pull up her hood, even if he was talking and turn and start walking away.
