The Last Word

By Jack Fisher | Posted: Tuesday August 27, 2019

If you’ve been living under a rock your whole life, you might not know that you in fact go to an all-boys school.

This means ballrush, pranks, some pretty dusty smelling classrooms and the odd crude drawing of a johnson. But most importantly it means that you have over 800 brothers to care for, and because you are the seniors of the school it’s probably good that you learn to be a good role model and a good older brother. Today I have 3 tips for you so that you know how to look after your peers. It will also help your ability to make healthy relationships and an added bonus, you can even trick people into thinking that you aren’t all that bad.

Number 1, be a good listener. It might sound like I'm giving you advice to score a second date but this one’s pretty important. Getting to know others is only possible if you actually take some time and listen to them. You might think you know someone because of a story you heard about them when they were year 8, but if you don’t actually spark up a conversation with them then do you really know them at all? Boys change a lot through high school as they grow into young men and can be a lot different than the underdeveloped bloke who impressed you with his yu gi oh cards back in the day. You’d be surprised how many funny or interesting stories people have about their lives and god forbid you might actually make a friend.

Number 2, understand that whether you’re in the first XV, if you’re a scholar or if you think you’re Jimi Hendrix because you can play 'Smoke on the Water' on the guitar, juniors will still look up to you. This means that no matter how creepy it sounds, you’re always being watched. This means you better show them how to be respectful, responsible and reasonable as these are traits of a good man and are skills that they will take throughout life. You can only do this by using the triple R formula yourself in everyday life. Do this step wrong and you might find the once cute junior still cooking your wicked wings at KFC 30 years later. So just remember to be the best version of a man that you can be and perhaps the negative stigma around men in this day and age can be forgotten.

Last but not least, don’t let the banter that boys communicate with go too far. Boys tend to have a problem when they come to the line ,where banter goes too far, as usually when this happens they kick the line out of the window and proceed to roast each other to smithereens. Now, this may seem funny to some people, but it generally leaves a bad taste in a lot of peoples mouths, especially the boys who are getting this “banter” targeted to them. Just remember that everyone's lines are different and we don’t want to make others feel bad about themselves. OBHS has just introduced the 'above the hoops' idea and I believe that you should have it in the back of your head when delving towards the grey area where banter becomes blatant bullying. If you see people being picked on, don’t be afraid to speak up and tell people that they are crossing the line.

So there you go, 3 easy steps to be the best brother you can be. As tradition I will finish with a quote, “Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero.” – Marc Brown