Hello TRP!

As I always do near this time of the year, I took a few minutes to reflect on everything that I have accomplished/done wrong. But somehow this popped into my mind, and I felt like it belonged here. So here we go.

I didn't even realize what caused this event till now. This happened many years ago, 5th grade to be certain.

It was near the end of the school year, and we were waiting for the team t-shirts, you know, the cute ones with all of the 5th graders' names on it. I had no idea if I ordered one or not, so I checked the list next to the pile of t-shirts. Apparently they hadn't given them out yet, but being the little shit I was, had no idea. I saw my name on the list, so I just took one, thinking I'd be ahead of the game. I went out in the hall and put it in my little cubby. Apparently this sentiment wasn't shared by my teacher, though. He, along with his suck-up little shits, searched all the cubbies, and found one in mine. I thought nothing of it.

Afterward, shortly before lunch that same day, unsuspecting me gets pulled into class. Now I always thought this teacher preferred girls, but not THIS much. FUcking white knight looking-ass.

This guy GOES OFF on me. He thought I STOLE it. Apparently everybody's name was on that list, but the ones that paid for the shirt had a little checkmark or some shit like that on it. Apparently a girl didn't get her t-shirt initially, so they checked all the cubbies, backpacks etc. He thinks I did it on purpose. He's berating me the entire time on how I could do this to a girl, etc. Always emphasizing that. He then leads me down a slippery slope argument essentially forcing me into a false confession that I stole it with intent. Looking back on it, I'm lucky he didn't go to the police. The principal got involved though, and turned a small incident into a big stink.

We eventually made it go away, but I still had to admit that I committed the "crime". Pissed me off, but the easiest way to silence it. Most of my grade knew about it, and to them, I looked like a criminal. A t-shirt guys. A fucking t-shirt.

Well, this was elementary school, and fast forward to now, I know my shit. I know not to fall into traps like that, I know how to argue and debate, and most importantly, stand my own ground. If this happened today, it would have gone away in an instant.

Now, this sounds irrelevant to what we discuss here at TRP, but it in fact is very relevant. Be vigilant, stand your own ground. Look out for white knight types, they could fuck you over hard in the long run. And never speak to authority.

I didn't make this connection between white knights, discrimination etc. as a 5th grader, but now I see it clearly. Very clearly. Thankfully, it was in elementary school and a relatively mild accusation. But not everyone has that kind of luck. Protect yourself, guys. It's a dangerous world out there.