"The Whole Story": The Tales of Water and Fire (Part Three)

• The Fire (Part Two): Zachariah White 

The term “fire” refers to the passion and one has in accomplishing what one set out to fulfill as well as the protection of one’s self from the exterior. Regardless of for better or worse, there is no denying that these are traits associated with Malcolm X. These are also things that I “adopted” and developed in my journey of life. However, like water, there is an opposing outlook placed fire as the society deems it as “aggressive” and “defensive” (in the sense that one acts in this manner without there being a reason to). 

These labels “aggressive” and “defensive” are evidence of double standards, which further indicate instability and inconsistency among the larger population. One example that I’ll provide for support lies in two scenarios where myself and one of my best friends fought one of my youngest brother’s brothers. Here’s a table below that describes the causes, the effects, the treatment towards me, and the treatment towards the other parties involved. 

	One of best friends v. One of youngest brother’s brothers	Zachariah White v. One of young brother’s brothers
Cause	The relative voicemailed my friend’s sister several messages with derogatory remarks and incendiary comments both weeks in advance and on the day before the incident (Friday)  This was not the first time something like this has happened  The relative was trashtalking the day of the incident while playing basketball to the friend	The incident took place on a Friday afternoon in my room (where I lived for 18 years now, about 10 years at the time)  Prior to the incident, the relative antagonized me for years  I turned the channel to the SyFy network to watch WWE Smackdown  The relative didn’t want to watch it, so he snatched the remote  I snatched the remote back and proceeded to watch television  The relative attempted to change the television manually  I went to keep it on the same channel by controlling the television manually, and he pushed me
Effect	The friend beat the relative up (punching and stomping)  This occurred in front of other relatives of my brother, who stood by and watched as I did	I beat the relative up (pushed him around the house, from room to room, in front my mom and his dad; I put him in a headlock)  The relative and his older cousin were in prime position to jump me, but the relative backed out at the last second  (The cousin grabbed my arms from behind and signaled for the relative to beat on me)
Verdict for Zachariah	Administered by: The uncle of the relative (who’s had a history of displaying a disdain towards me = selective disapproval)  One of the adult relatives told me to go “down the street” and prohibited me from playing the other relatives for the day	Administered by: The father of the relative (who’s also the father of my youngest brother = selective disapproval)  Taunted me when I ate breakfast the next morning (e.g fist in the hand gesture)  Trashtalk and threats about physical harm that was yet to come  Trashtalk about what would happen if I told my mom or “snitched” (e.g “She won’t believe you”)  Ordered the same son and older nephew to double-team (jump) me
Verdict for the other parties	Administered by: The uncle of the relative   Told the bystanders that they should’ve helped  Administered by: The father of the relative  Had the relative and the friend shake hands as a truce	Administered by: The father of the relative   Organized with his son and nephew to jump me on the side of their aunt’s house

The general summarization and key point is that there were two scenarios instigated by the same person which, more or less, had the same outcome, yet there were different responses to the aggravated party due to the general perception of the community. The friend was seen as a relatively cool person with a lot of family members that live with him and nearby to help him out, especially in scenarios where there are tensions with others. Meanwhile, I was seen as “water”, “soft”, and “passive” because the relative antagonized me for so long, and I didn’t really have anyone outside of myself that could help me. Therefore, in the eyes of the exterior, I shouldn’t have retaliated the way that I did.  

However, even with all the madness, both instances still support the greater claim of the allocation of focus on one’s self. In the scenario with my friend, despite the relationship he had with the relative, he still stood up for himself and his sister versus the antagonization. This was rewarded with a form of truce and assurance that hostilities wouldn’t escalate from there. In my scenario, while there was a different verdict, it was not brought to fruition, for which ever reason(s) I don’t know for certain. Furthermore, our response to the situation and the actual end result are what reinforce the concept of supporting one’s self in the face of a larger group.