I was sitting on the bus today and my phone vibrates, indicating that someone desired to share their thoughts with me via text message. I reached in my pocket, opened my phone, and read:
Yo sum1 brought a knife 2 skool 2day…they got suspended
Now, I’m no expert, but I thought school was a place to learn, not a warzone of sorts. But apparently that’s just me. Being 17, I understand fully the dislike of the day-to-day grind of attending such places of learning, and I also understand the illicit thoughts that can run through the young adult mind. At one time or another we’ve all said or thought, “I’d like to blow this place up”, or “ I wish my teacher would die.” Gasp! “No”, you say. I’ve never thought such things in my life. Please, shut up. You can lie to yourself all you want; I just won’t do it for you. Hell, I’ve said and thought the same statements myself. There’s no denying that. But in light of the recent tragic events at schools in Memphis, TN and at Northern Illinois University, I feel that we as students should sit and examine our thoughts and our actions. Administration tells us to be aware of the feelings of our fellow classmates and act upon any signs of potential signs of distress. Now, I know this is a noble plan, but if someone reported me every time I looked like I was about to shoot up the school, the next place I’d be playing ball would be in a jail yard with Deebo and Juan.
Young adults are prone to having mood swings and being generally unstable…it’s a fact. Rational does not live in our vocabulary. This being said, what can be done to prevent bullets flying in hallways? In my opinion, nothing. Steven P. Kazmierczak was a “revered and honored” student. Even his girlfriend said he gave no indication that he was going to mow down 25 students in an ocean science lecture. The shootings in Memphis were by “angry, young black men” but to be quite honest, young black men are frustrated as a people. Two school shootings in Memphis within 8 days and it’s a secondary story in national news? (In Bill O’ Reilly’s voice): Oh, those little hoodlums and gang-bangers are so misguided. That’s not new news, that’s just what they do. Love you too, Bill. Getting off the issue of race however, many young kids in our society are angry as a whole because their whole lives are allowed to pass before them, and then by the time they realize they need to take a course of action, it is too late. On the flipside of that coin, many young kids are over-pressured by outside forces (counselers, parents, friends) to get into a good college and then land a high paying job. Now, in the little grooved section of the coin (the middle, for those of you that are looking at me like I’m crazy), many young kids are lost, stuck between those that don’t and those that do, generally forgotten because they are generally generalized by the general public. Hated, pressured and forgotten. Need I give more explanations for the frustrations of the Youth of the Nation?
Speech is my hammer, bang the world into shape, now let it fall...
-Mos Def
ILLIPSIS
(This is part one....part two coming soon...I got homework to do, son...)
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