Ben Austen
๐ค SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
When we got to high school, I tried to avoid fights as much as possible.
I saw kids at my school swing bats, golf clubs, once a hatchet.
Our junior year, two guys jumped me for a gold chain.
My wife says when I showed up at school that week with a broken nose and two black eyes...
It was the first time she noticed me.
Like, noticed me as a potential mate.
Not sure what that says about either of us.
I remember these moments, but I don't feel plagued by them.
Not in the way Eddie was by me.
But I realize in saying all that, part of me is defending myself.
I'm trying to prove I wasn't a bully.
Later, I even talked with an elementary school principal in Chicago to see whether my actions back then checked their four boxes of bullying.
Eddie has one more memory on his notepad that he wants me to hear.
He repeats the same story I shared with him in our Facebook exchange.
It starts just as I remember, but with a different conclusion.
It's that story of how when we were seven or eight and our class went to the park, a dog was off leash.