Give me my ball back!

I saw a TV show a night or two ago that had this little kid being bullied by another bigger kid. The show set it up so that you would really hate the bully, and the little kid got some revenge later on in the show. It was a show with a very satisfactory ending.

Luckily, I never was the target of a bully growing up. I had a few run-ins here and there with a rough kid, but I think I held my ground pretty well. I was extremely shy and very skinny as a kid, and I find it amazing that I wasn't picked on more.

From 5th grade up through my freshman year of high school, I played rec league basketball. I was too tall and skinny to bang around with the middle school and high school teams, so I stuck with the rec league.

There was one night when I was in 5th grade (10 or 11 years old) and my team had practice. The gym we played in had 4 goals, and 4 different teams were practicing at the same time. The gym was a madhouse. I had just gotten a brand new basketball and I took it with me to practice that night to show my friends. I shot around with it for a few minutes and put it down by the bleachers when practice started.

After practice was over, my ball was gone. I panicked. It was expensive. I thought my parents would kill me. There were still tons of people around, so I thought somebody must have picked it up to shoot with. I looked all over the place and couldn't find it. I finally went out into the lobby, and there were some kids sitting in the corner. One kid in particular was holding my ball. I went over and told him that he had picked up my ball, and I asked for it back. He said "This is my ball. My dad just got it for me." This was impossible, because I had put my initials on it. This bully wasn't going to give me my ball, and I was about to start crying. I toughened up, and asked for my ball again. He held it up in one hand and said again, that it was his ball. At that moment, from out of nowhere and with the confidence I haven't had in years, I smacked the ball out of his hands. I grabbed it, and went running back into the gym to find my dad. The kid chased me for a second and then stopped. I had defeated the bully!

This happened over 15 years ago, and this is the first time that I've thought of it since. I'd say that was one of my shining moments as a kid. It was so out of character for me.

I need to bottle up some of this aggressiveness and apply it towards my job search. I need to get down and dirty and get mean about it. I NEED A JOB! I need to move my pregnant wife and myself back home where we belong.