Narrative Essay Example

The S-word is not a phrase we would often hear in my alma mater. The S-word is an epithet we had given to the phrase “Sexual Assault.” It was taboo to utter the phrase. Hence it was necessary to give it a tag. I would say it was the phrase easier ‘done than said. I find it incumbent to say that people would look at you as if you are not from this world if one happened to speak the phrase. Nobody understood the agony and distress that accompanies sexual assault until one was a victim. In case a person reports any case of sexual assault, people, and by people, I mean lectures and professors, would make you look like a mad person; for speaking out about what you have gone through. I thank the heavens because I was able to clear my four years of study without having to go through the turmoil of sexual assault and what was regarded as ’empty blabbing.’

Last week I was at the SturnBurk State College for internship training. I have not been down there in a minute, and as I was taking in the scenery, I was very aware of my surroundings, especially as a pretty young lady in an area whose atrocities I knew very well. It is not like they chose the victims according to beauty or attractiveness; any female was the risk of being sampled. I had to be calm, but at the same time, alert. We all know that that 4/20 is the national pot day, and no one is usually more excited about the day than an idle college student. It will be even more fun if 4/20 was on a Thursday or “Thirsty Thursday,” if you like. This was the day when college students would go out to drink and party. So, the day happened to fall on one of the days that I was at the training.  That night as my colleague and I went to dinner, I could not help but watch the barely dressed girls that were already drunk as they danced with young men in suits beside them. All I could think about is how they were in imminent trouble, but they did not know it yet. 

The night went on as my colleague and I conversed and wondered of the many Sexual assault cases in the state. Many of them would go unreported and unpunished, be it in the state at large or within the College. One thing that we both agreed on is that the school’s policy on sexual assault was ineffective if not crocked. The authorities and the press did not seem to have any interest in such cases. These cases were taken as low-priority cases. It did not matter how many people were affected; as long as it is not a member of one of the prominent families, nobody cared. 

When I thought of these cases more and more, I became convicted that I needed to do something about it. I knew very well that I was in no capacity at all to attract national attention. I knew that even if I started any form of activism, it would be a matter of time before it was shut down by the powerful or by lack of resources. Even so, I still had a conviction that even if I failed in the process, the most important thing is that I tried. Immediately after making the decision, I quit the training and went home to prepare. In two months, I have already relocated to SturnBuck. I started by printing flyers and posters that rallied against sexual assault. I distributed it to every person that I came across. I placed the posters in strategic places that even the blind would see. Seven months down the line, the campaign had spread far and wide within the state and beyond. The highlight was when I was interviewed on one of the local tv stations. The message that I sent touched many, and they felt the need to come out and report assaults that had been committed on them. The state reopened many cases, and many were prosecuted. 

It is now two years since I launched the campaign. It was a one-person initiative that turned out to be one of the biggest campaigns in the state. I was invited to several states to speak on the matter, and I even opened up a women’s shelter that would host and fight for victims of sexual assault.  Like Simeon of the Bible, I was ready to die because I had fulfilled the purpose of being born. I have made enough impact, of which I was sure that it would be hard to kill among the people. That is all a girl needed to be happy.