Whenever hearing someone talk about something and they say “If this ever happened to me I would…” a little piece of me dies inside every time. Throughout the past few weeks, numerous women did something courageous and came out and spoke about how powerful men were making them uncomfortable through sexual harassment or sexual assaults. In the wake of this all, I have heard many friends around me talk about it and even have said “I know if this were to ever happen to me I would not stand for it” or “If a man ever tried to do this to me I wouldn’t take it”. Nothing angers me more than hearing that. How can you ever put yourself in someone else’s position and say you wouldn’t allow that to happen or say that you would immediately report them to make their life a living hell? How can you sit there and judge or comment on someone else’s journey to recovering after the traumatic experience? It’s so easy for a third party who hasn’t experienced that to sit back and say how they would react in the “perfect” way and how they would take down the man or woman that hurt them. I use to be naive and think that god forbid something happened to me, I would be brave enough to report it. But of course, when push came to shove, I had a harder time doing it when I was at a frat house and found drugs in my cup. When that incident happened reporting it was the last thing I wanted to do. I thought these were my friends and I kept thinking that they didn’t mean to do that to me. I was embarrassed and ashamed, I kept blamed myself because all the frat members were and I didn’t want everyone to think I was a rat. It was through the strength from my family and best friend that I found the courage to step forward so no other girl would have to deal with what I did. My story is so minuscule compared to other’s and I was terrified to come forward and tell anyone about it, including my parents. So when I hear friends of mine talk about how if they were ever placed in a situation where their safety is compromised and how they would handle it perfectly, I want to laugh in their face. No one has the right to judge how a person chooses how to handle difficult situations. At the end of the day all we should be doing is supporting and giving strength and words of encouragement to those who need it, not knocking them down.