[Taylor Fulton]

This morning I got to thinking about an incident that occurred back in my junior year of high school.
I was in a fitness weight training class full of boys and with very few girls. I often hung out with one of the girls even though I didn't really like her. She wanted to give me a makeover and basically treated me like a project she wanted to work on to make me more like her - she was very outgoing, well-dressed, etc. Thinking she had good intentions and that I had no reason NOT to like her, and the fact that I didn't talk to any of the other girls, I stayed with her in that class.

One day, I asked her if she knew my now-ex best friend. She said yes, and that she thought she was weird and overly quiet. I got mad and told her that's just her opinion, which she insisted I asked for but didn't. I kept pushing it and she hit me. I'd never been in a fight before and didn't hit her back, and although she got suspended and I could have pressed charges (but didn't,) I still felt like I failed standing up for what I believed in for not beating her in the fight.

I'm well aware I'll probably get different answers for this question, but here it is, anyway: Do you think fighting for your cause is worth it even if you don't successfully do what you tried doing? If not, how do you consider yourself successful, or, at the very least, not a failure?

[Alediran]

You actually reacted very well there, because she got suspended. You would have probably faced the same consequence if you had hit her back.

Fighting is for defense when you have no other option.

[telepariah]

You don't have to hit back to win. As soon as another person resorts to violence to resolve a dispute, you have already won.