My 8th grade year, my friend was accidentally pushed and got a bruise on her arm. So, she called the boy that hit her “annoying.” Later, the boy started making fun of her and talking about her badly to other people. One day at lunch, she threw milk at him, so they started to fight. They were brought to the office to talk it out and everything was cleaned up.

This would have never happened if they had talked it out at the start. He could have apologized, he could have never talked about her in that way or she could have not thrown the milk and resolved the conflict peacefully.

For many people, fighting comes before talking things out. They risk getting hurt, hurting someone else and getting kicked out of school. Fighting can be caused by a lot of things. It could be over someone saying the wrong thing, bullying, rumors or peer pressure. Fighting should never be the answer. Talking through everything is the way to go.

SHS has a one and done policy. If anyone gets caught fighting then they get expelled, no questions asked. Some people really want  to be kicked out of school, so they fight someone when they can just resolve the conflict by talking to each other.

They also risk their health and safety, rather than talking through things peacefully. According to keepschoolssafe.org, one in nine people involved in school fights have needed medical treatment afterwards. That could easily be the person who started the fight or a person who didn’t want to be a part of it. Not only would your health be in jeopardy, but your friends, peers and teachers health are all at risk.

According to the Counseling and Mental Health Center of The University of Texas at Austin, some ways to prevent fighting and resolve conflicts peacefully are to remain calm, avoid clamming up, deal with only one problem at a time, be specific on your problems talking to others and don’t add all lot of problems on top of each other.

If these things don’t work, another way to help with not fighting is the Peer Mediation club provided by SHS. This club is to help others who struggle to work out their problems on their own.  

Rumors and miscommunication are big things that can be talked out, and with the help of peers, teachers, deans, counselors or any other adult, one can talk things out in a peaceful matter.

There can be many times where a person is accidentally being misunderstood. The best way to fix misunderstandings is by discussing it. There will be no risk of getting physically hurt because you talked everything through calmly.

Therefore, the best way to solve all of your problems is to talk them out instead of risking yours and your peers’ health and education by fighting.