When Fighting Back Isn't Fighting

506 Words3 Pages
When Fighting Back Isn’t Fighting When faced with situation that seems to be very wrong and standing up for your beliefs is right is the hardest thing to do, what would most of us choose? In “Satyagraha” by Alden R. Carter, the captain of a football team and the team’s trainer have to make just such a decision when one of their teammates gets abusive. One theme throughout the story is that if you stand up to your beliefs and are determined, then you can accomplish anything. In this story, the trainer has to stand firm on his belief of non -violence when the all-star defensive end vents his anger physically on him because of a decision during the game that contributed to the team’s loss. The team captain has to also stand up for his belief that the defensive end’s behavior is wrong, but he also learns from the trainer that there is an alternative way to do this. In the beginning of the story, when the defensive end vents anger physically on the team’s trainer, Ramdas, he reacted to this in a surprising way to the rest of the team. The football player continues to shove Ramdas against the school lockers, but Ramdas never fought back physically. When questioned about it, he replied, “Because I will not fight. It goes against everything I believe” (Carter 171). This means that Ramdas thinks that his beliefs are important and that he will not compromise his beliefs just because it may be hard to stand up to them. Ramdas had a word that represented this belief in non-violence, it is “Satyagraha”. Later, the captain of the football team, Kenneth sees the defensive end’s actions against Ramdas and he believes it’s wrong. His first reaction is that somebody should hit back, even though there is a risk that he may end up getting beaten up by the defensive end, Bill. He feels strongly about this and thinks to himself, “But like it or not, I was going to have to do
Open Document