Bystander Behavior

It is difficult to say that I haven't been a bystander to many things. It is much easier and more comfortable to sit back and watch things happen rather than speaking up. One particular instance I remember being a bystander of was one of my "friends" and his racism. Our high school was 60% african american students and this guy I was friends with was extremely racist. He would always talk about the black students with the mentality of a close-minded white man during slavery. When he would crack the jokes to me or try to talk to me about his hatred I would just sit there and listen. I never said anything until months later. An instance where I wished that a bystander would have stepped in came my senior year. This guy who everyone liked and who was known for doing funny pranks went too far one day when he pulled a prank on me. His prank ended up being extremely harassing and someone who was in the classroom told the authorities what happened. Because this person would not reveal their name I was the name that everyone knew about that would obviously have to testify, and as they questioned the other witnesses from the class no one said that they saw anything for fear of rejection from the pranker. Many people were angry at me for not lying to keep him out of trouble and I feel like if I would have had a few more people to stand by my side and tell me I did the right thing, it would have been much easier. As sad as this may be I think that college students are more often bystanders because acceptance is the most important thing at this age.