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Melinda Sanchez

Harris

AP Lang

Period 4

Bystander

There are many different ways to describe what being a hero is, I believe that these

different definitions come down to the characteristic of someone who is willing to take a risk to

help others with no thought of a reward. Someone who I can say has done this for me,

throughout most of my life, is my grandmother.

As a kid she was like my best friend. I would always be so excited to spend time with

her, and she practically raised me for half of my life. My grandma and I always had this special

bond, in a lot of ways we were alike, which may have been the reason I was named after her. My

grandma taught me at a young age things that were right and wrong. She always told me to do

the right thing, and that I would know when I was doing something wrong, that there would be

this feeling deep down telling me so. Whenever my sisters would try to exclude me from things,

my grandma was there to stick up for me. When I would have a tough day, she would take me

out on a picnic to have me relax and forget about things. This became a weekly routine that

helped me progress as a child. Since I would spend a lot of time with her when I was little, I

would observe the things she did. I noticed that she was not only a hero to me for taking care of

me because of my parents busy schedule, but also others around her.

Each day, a group of children would walk past my grandma’s house as they walked home

from school. She would greet them and often give them things, such as clothing and toys. One
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day, she saw how distraught the kids were due to being bullied for having worn down shoes. She

spoke up for them and told the children bullying them that it was not right to insult and mistreat

others. The next day, she bought the children new shoes. Seeing this, I learned to speak up for

others with no expectation to receive. My grandma was a hero to others that could not speak for

themselves. As I learned from her when I was little, I saw that sticking up for people was the

right thing to do and her actions influenced my beliefs today. I feel strongly about speaking up

for people and not being a bystander.

When I was little I was extremely shy, I would barely talk to anyone and had my circle of

close friends. Although I was shy, whenever I saw anyone pick on my friends I would stand up

for them and say something. I wouldn’t let anyone try to belittle me or my friends. I made friends

with a girl that used to get bullied a lot because of her race. At first I would see classmates

exclude her from things and didn’t do anything. I then thought back to my grandmother and how

she helped me when I was excluded. I knew it was not right to sit there and let the bullying

continue so I invited her to come play with me and my friends. I am the same way with family.

My sister has got into some predicaments over the years and even though I am the youngest, that

doesn’t stop me from having her back. Not long ago, my sister had gotten into confrontation with

a guy that resulted in him slapping her. As I stood there I was in complete shock. My sister

didn’t seem to know what to do and it didn’t take me long to move in front of her and tell the guy

off. How dare he lay a hand on my sister! I pushed him back and told him that it was not okay

for him to be hitting anyone, let alone a girl; it just wasn’t right. I felt my stomach turn with

disgust. After the incident was over my sister thanked me for sticking up for her and risking
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getting hit myself. I told her those who watch unjust things happen and do nothing are just as

guilty as those who cause harm. I believe in standing up for those who can’t for themselves.