A Time I Didn’t Speak Out

Rachel Bloom

Mr. Shepfer

Business HR 2292

November 16, 2015

A Time I Didn’t Speak Out

        When I was a senior in high school I was appointed to be on my cities Teen Court. Teen Court was a group of 12 juniors and seniors in high school who applied to be a part of this group. Our job was to listen to actual cases from our peers and act like real life judges to give them a fair trial. We also decided the punishments that each person who came to our court was given. This amazing opportunity also came with some regulations; we had to sign a confidentiality form saying we would not disclose any details or information that happened in court to anyone on the outside. I joined Teen Court with one of my good friends, who was equally as excited to be given this once in a lifetime opportunity. The cons of living in such a small town was that we personally knew almost every person who came through our court. Most of our cases had to do with minor traffic violations but there was one instance where a guy our grade had a violent outburst and came to our court. A few days after this specific trial a group of us were eating lunch at school. My friend also on Teen Court began to gossip about the boy our grade who was put on trial and told the people we were with everything about the trial, sparing no details. I knew that her talking about the trial was wrong, but I didn’t do anything about it. If I told our superiors about what she said, I knew she would be kicked off Teen Court and possibly put under an investigation. At the time, I didn’t want all my friends to hate me for speaking up about what I knew was right.

        I ended up not saying anything, so nothing happened to my friend. I felt horrible that several people knew what the boy from our school did, even though he was guaranteed a confidential trial. My friend knew it was wrong to talk about the trial but still told our friends anyways. All my friends now had horrible opinions of him, which made me feel horrible that I didn’t speak up. I wanted to fit in, and I let my selfish reasons cloud my ability to make the right decision. Looking back on this. At the time, I don’t know what would have motivated me to speak up. Advice from my parents probably would have been the only thing, but talking to them was against the confidentiality agreement as well. I’m not satisfied with how I acted, but it’s too late now to change turning my friend in. I signed an agreement to value the law, and I didn’t obey it when I kept quiet about my friend talking about the trial. If I could go back in time, I would do what is right but it’s too late now. My ideal scenario would have been to stop my friend as soon as she began talking about the case and to give her a warning about talking to people about the case. If she still didn’t listen to me, then I wouldn’t have turned her in. Things in my control that would have made it easier for me to have spoken up would have been more self confidence. I knew many people would hate me if I ratted my friend out, even though it was the right thing. I didn’t have the confidence to face that at the time. Things within the control of others that would have helped me speak up would have been to be allowed to talk to my parents. As a 17 year-old, there aren’t many other people that could have shown me the line between right and wrong. If I had someone I respected enough to tell me what was right and what was wrong, I may have gained the courage to do what was right.