Human Target—a phrase I thought I had a pretty good understanding of, until recently when these two words took on a whole different meaning.
When you think about someone being a human target, you normally think about a victim of abuse, be it physical or emotional. In grade school it could come as a push or shove from your fellow classmate, in high school it could be multiple scenarios from the jock head douche bag or the preppy plastic ring leader, and in the adult world it could be from just about anyone and be anything from awful gossip spreading to fatal backstabbing.
In all of these cases, one person is attacking another person as if they were an inanimate object, such as a target. Only what these people are really doing is inflicting wounds into an animate object, a living breathing human being—hence the term human target. I have tried to the best of my ability to avoid being the victim of these types of abuses for most of my life, until recently when I purposefully put myself in this position.
I am—at the time of writing this—a human target, and I am proud. I get attacked by people I don’t even know and feel no pain or worry whatsoever. When I get knocked down, I get right back up and am ready for more. I can take it because I am prepared, protected, and confident in what I do—I am a paintball zombie.
Michael White is a freshman at SJSU and is double majoring in Business Management and Musical Theatre. He enjoys being creative in all he does and hopes to have a career as a Singer Songwriter in the future, performing under the name M. Marlin White.
The Bolt Magazine 