(We battled spiders. Not a lot of people can claim they've done anything like it)
The order came down from the Teacher's Council. The school principal has told me that an all-out sweep of the entire school must be executed. The task was simple: Search and Destroy..
As president of the school Student Council, I myself came out to conduct the sweep. Along came the VP, Ben, and a few more students that volunteered to participate in the hunt. The directive was to search the school for everyone in possession of spiders, confiscate and destroy. Like a knight entrusted with a mission, I set out proud along with a close friend and a few students. We started from the secondary entrance of the school and towards the main entrance. We searched every classroom and every nook and crannies. Some had to be searched and some were caught in the act of battling their arachnids. The memory of how exactly everything took place is now just a blurry recollection of events divided into small pieces. Though I do remember some students crying. Some were angry. And some were just afraid. I've killed quite a handful of them. My friend killed even more. Spiders trapped in matchboxes, cassette tape cases or cigarette packs... crushed by our feet. My feet. Powerless to prevent the inevitable. Were they better off finding an end of sudden death by our wrath or were they deserving of a warrior's death fighting for their lives on a wooden stick?
We caught kids battling the spiders for money. To this day, I believe that was the reason behind the teachers' order to put an end to such a fad. I don't see any reason why such an activity could be harmful or detrimental to the school and the children. After all, a lot of us did not have a lot in the first place. To have something you can call your own and be passionate about don't seem like such a terrible thing. I suppose it did in a way promoted gambling. And I can understand that. A hobby, can turn into something more. And that something can either be good or bad. In this case, it resulted into something bad which meant that students started betting money on the battles. But then again, I know for a fact that spider battling was not the only thing that students have been into which entailed gambling. A lot have gambled using other means from flipping coins, card games, rubberband games, etc. Looking back now, it seemed cruel and meaningless. But I did what I was told to do by the principal. I regret nothing.
There was a lot more to spider battling than just putting two arachnids on a stick and making them eat each other. I know for a fact that you couldn't just use house spiders because they were considered "food" for the actual more ruthless ones you can find in trees, in the outdoors. They had their own classifications and stuff as well, which to this day I do not understand. Some children set out to search for the perfect spider way so early in the morning for they believed it was the best time. And some looked for them in the evening. I myself have been in a search a bit early in the morning as well with my neighbor. He was into spider battling and I tagged along to help him search for some. It appealed to me and perhaps I secretly had one too. But I was not good at all at managing them and I ended up losing a fight. And if you lost a fight, it meant your spider died. I remember kids would often have them encased in matchboxes with divisions inside. They housed them in cells and made them drink saliva. To feed them, they have spiders from houses that were considered significantly weak. And so they were considered easy food for the ones you find in trees.
The search could've been a success. But I am not really sure anymore at this point. There was no way we could've stopped students from finding spiders again and continuing with the gambling. I just question now what was the point of the senseless spider killing my friend and I did for the school.
The most difficult part was taking away from the good kids that were kind and respectful to me. I stood there and watch the very little thing they were passionate about and have them stomped to destruction right before their very eyes. I could not do it, and so I let the others do the confiscating from the kids that I was friends with in a way. Some kids got violent, but we did what we were told to do. Some kids cried. Lotsa dead spiders on the ground, on the floor. We had to check the back alleys of the classrooms. We caught a lot of students. More than I was expecting too. There was a lot of upset kids that day.
There was a lot more to spider battling than just putting two arachnids on a stick and making them eat each other. I know for a fact that you couldn't just use house spiders because they were considered "food" for the actual more ruthless ones you can find in trees, in the outdoors. They had their own classifications and stuff as well, which to this day I do not understand. Some children set out to search for the perfect spider way so early in the morning for they believed it was the best time. And some looked for them in the evening. I myself have been in a search a bit early in the morning as well with my neighbor. He was into spider battling and I tagged along to help him search for some. It appealed to me and perhaps I secretly had one too. But I was not good at all at managing them and I ended up losing a fight. And if you lost a fight, it meant your spider died. I remember kids would often have them encased in matchboxes with divisions inside. They housed them in cells and made them drink saliva. To feed them, they have spiders from houses that were considered significantly weak. And so they were considered easy food for the ones you find in trees.
The search could've been a success. But I am not really sure anymore at this point. There was no way we could've stopped students from finding spiders again and continuing with the gambling. I just question now what was the point of the senseless spider killing my friend and I did for the school.
The most difficult part was taking away from the good kids that were kind and respectful to me. I stood there and watch the very little thing they were passionate about and have them stomped to destruction right before their very eyes. I could not do it, and so I let the others do the confiscating from the kids that I was friends with in a way. Some kids got violent, but we did what we were told to do. Some kids cried. Lotsa dead spiders on the ground, on the floor. We had to check the back alleys of the classrooms. We caught a lot of students. More than I was expecting too. There was a lot of upset kids that day.
No comments:
Post a Comment