I got beaten up pretty bad.

I feel great.

Ricky kept pushing me around, kind of half-slapping me. Just for fun. Like kids have been doing for years. And you know I can't fight. Only, this time it hit me: “If I don't do something, this will never end. This will be my life.”

So I hit him back. That is, I tried; it's not like I hurt him. In fact, he punched me. Hard. So I punched him back. And he hit me again. A few times. But each time I hit him back. He kept saying, “C'mon, man. You're gonna get hurt.” I didn't say a word. Just kept hitting him, every time he hit me.

Not hurting him. Don't get me wrong. Just hitting him.

Finally he stepped back. “You're crazy, man. You're just crazy.” And he took another step back. Then I realized: “He's afraid. He's afraid of me.”

And he was. Can you believe it? He walked away, just turned around and walked away.

How do you like that?

All because I fought back. I finally fought back.

I fought back, and I won.