Not often, and usually when they behaved badly toward some other student than myself. My father, who is 93 years old now, had an extremely strong sense of fairness about things. He was someone who stood up for anyone who was being taken of advantage of whenever he encountered such a thing. He taught me that. He taught me to stand up for myself and for others. He taught me to avoid fighting with people, but to stand my ground when attacked.
So, my response to that final act of bullying by that coach wasn't really courage. It was what I was taught to do. I walked out on that gym class, but not before telling the coach what I thought of his action. I had no power, so I passed what had happened along to my father, who did. The result was that the coach never did anything like that again to anyone. He stopped bullying non-athletic kids altogether. The difference in his behavior was like night and day, at least when I was present.
I don't know what my father said to him in that office with the principal there, but I can imagine that it was very, very uncomfortable for that coach. Things changed. Sometimes, things need to change. Sometimes a person can make things change.
That's what I learned from my father.
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