In my younger years as a teacher, I was always the lucky one to take on a classroom that had been through 11-12 substitute teachers. In one such instance, the previous teacher ran screaming never to return carrying all the kid's work, the classroom key and teacher's text book.
I walked into the science class on a friday and the kids just glared at me. I blew my stack and told them, "no dice, I am going to do the job and no one is going to stop me." Of course with me at 4 ft 7 inches tall, the other teachers had a bet that I would be the next to leave. No way! I stood up to those kids and they knew I was the one would stand up even if it hurt me. I won, they won. In time, they saw that even though I was small, I wasn't going to take it from any 13 year old and if they wanted to slug me they had to be smarter and better be faster than me. I told them they deserved a good teacher and I was the one to do it. By the end of the year they loved me and felt safe when they walked into my class, even the bigger kids.
They came to understand that I was not standing up to them but for them and their right for a decent education. I told them this over and over till they believed it. Always the lucky one, this story repeated itself in different schools over and over. Each time I would stand up to the bully in the class as tiny as I was and fearlessly confronted the thug that would interrupt my lessons. My male students began to fear that I would get hurt one day and started to stand up for me and stop any fight before they broke out knowing that if one did I would be in the way. We all loved each other. The last fight I remember stopping was one between rival gang leaders one African American and the other Puerto Rican American. I wrapped my arms around Scooby and then grabbed the locker behind him. I whispered , " Don't hurt me, Scooby. It's me" "I won't," he said," I love you."
So just because you stand up for what you think is right doesn't mean you don't also love the one person you're trying to stop.