A few thoughts

Once again, The Samurai Frog wrote another impressive post about being an outsider. I figured I'd my three cents.

It's always funny to look back at your life and notice the twists and turns that happen on the way, and how it all led you to this point in life. You don't have that foresight growing up that you do now.

I knew I was different growing up. I didn't hang with the rest of the kids. Something inside me keep me from being normal. As I grew older, I became more cynical about life at a young age. I simply didn't have the social skills to relate to the other kids, and found myself playing alone. No kid should never have that feeling in their childhood. (Which is where my imagination kicked into high gear.)

In high school, I found myself not wanting to be around other people. I simply didn't want anyone close to me. My forced solicitude became my comfort zone. My attitude got really bad, to the point that all I wanted was to get out of high school at all cost. And, if it wasn't for concert and marching band, I'd have probably dropped out of school. Music gave me the focus I needed to 'stay the course'.

Somehow, Music kept the anger in check. I became a better person because I knew I was capable of doing doing something special. (Turning a Negative into a positive)

Part of me wonders if I could have ended up like those outcast kids that brought guns to school to settle the score. Or like that guy that I knew that shot an unarmed man in a parking lot one night. Growing up, Ray ended being an outcast himself and felt like people picked on him because he was different. This consumed him. This led him to become an angry man that would eventually lead him to killing a father and working man in cold blood.

Yet, we are seeing a growing number of these angry loners going to public places and shooting the place up. I think the issue goes beyond gun control and violence in the media. But, what is the basis for all the shoot-outs? Why do these young men with bad hair and skin feel the need to force their pain onto others?

Trust me, we haven't seen the end of this, not by a long shot.

I wish I had an answer.