For the young men in school
I wrote this piece in light of a death that occurred in the small town where I live.
I have not decided if I will submit this piece as an editorial to the local newspaper, but that was my intention during the writing process. Thanks for reading.
To those who are closely involved with this recent tragedy, I am so sorry for your loss. My heart breaks for you. I think it’s safe to speculate that even those who were only loosely acquainted with this individual are feeling the loss as well. I’m sure that it has inspired a variety of coping mechanisms, but my mechanism has always been writing and I’m feeling compelled to explore what I perceive to be a profound injustice.
I wonder about the reader’s thoughts on death and what has been brought to the forefront in light of this incident. We do ourselves a great disservice by only reflecting on the relevance of our mortality when something like this smacks us in the face. The purpose of this editorial is not to explore the concept of death, but I think it would be wise to gently ease the reader into the destination I plan on reaching.
I submit that the value of life is contingent on the fact that it will end; if it lasted forever, it would be worthless. Consider what it means for something to have value. It must be rare and it must be finite. Life is valuable because it meets these criteria.
To contemplate death is to contemplate the value of life, and the more you do this, the more you will appreciate the people around you. Consider this for yourself. Suppose I had a child, and when I hugged him, I reminded myself that I might lose him. That might sound morbid, maybe emotionally unbearable, but it’s the truth, isn’t it? I would appreciate my son more by reminding myself that I only have a short time with him and that I have no control over his mortality. The same is true of my friends. When I leave them, I try to remind myself that this may have been our final interaction. If you try this, you will hug your children tighter and more often, you will give your friend a final look over your shoulder when you leave his house. If ever this sentiment comes to fruition, you will find comfort in the fact that you offered yourself whole-heartedly to him or her during the time you had together.
The purpose of this editorial is to address the young men who are currently attending school in Grenfell. In this I will be offering some challenging thoughts and some parents and teachers may not understand them. Evidently, this topic is a matter of life and death – so I’m about to be politically incorrect in a severe way. After a tragedy like this, it’s difficult to know when it’s safe to offer any sort of commentary on it. I’m caught between my compulsion to write and the respect I want to extend for the people who have been affected. If your wound is still fresh, I would not recommend that you continue reading. For some of you, this piece will never be digestible, and that’s a fact of life I suppose.
Like I said, if you are a teenage boy attending school in Grenfell, I am writing this to you directly. I didn’t know your friend personally but I have him in mind. I am going to be honest with you.
I’m writing this for you if you’re having a hard time with school, if you feel disconnected or trapped. In this I am going to show you that not every adult believes that you should be forced into public education. Not every adult believes that you should be fed pills when you feel sad. I think your negative feelings about school are spot on. Maybe the consideration of this new perspective will help you feel empowered and secure – but that is up to you.
This will probably be hard to hear and please do not take my word for it, find the evidence yourself: Most of the adults around you are still children. They care about you, but they are lost. They might not have parents or teachers around to tell them what to do, but they have gods, politicians, talk-show hosts, and authors - a limitless supply of public figures to do their thinking for them. They are discontented with their chosen occupation. The whole of their existence is encompassed by a quiet desperation; the knowledge that something is wrong or missing, but they are afraid to examine it. Instead they exist on a self-imposed treadmill of living in anticipation for the weekend, anticipation of the next escape from themselves. They project their discontent on you because you are fresh and whole – and you are being influenced to become just like them. If that is the life you want, go for it, but realize your destination before you reach it. Ensure that this modality is your decision and not someone else’s.
Nobody can know what happened to your friend and I’m not here to speculate about him, but I need you to know that it’s perfectly okay to be depressed, angry, and desperate. In fact, if you are experiencing something like that, you are probably more intelligent than the people around you who appear to be “happy” and “nice.”
Your mind is not your enemy, your feelings are not your enemy – these negative things exist in us as a warning system. Those feelings are telling you that your mind is experiencing trauma; that it’s under attack. Don’t run away from those thoughts and if medications become available to you, be very careful. Accept those thoughts, explore them; don’t resist them. They are a piece of you and they are telling you the truth about your environment.
I’m going to offer some observations about your school environment and you will have to decide for yourself if they true. Do not believe me, do not “believe” anything that you are told – test it for yourself. You are the only person who can know what is best for you.
I’m going to present these points simply. Mull over these ideas, I will not offer the evidence for them and I will not try to convince you of anything. See if you can find the evidence for yourself. Thank you very much for reading.
• You are being forced into an unnatural environment. School is unnatural because it is forced. It is unnatural because the behaviours and habits that you develop in school do not exist in life – unless you go to prison.
• There are “good” drugs and there are “bad” drugs. These are tricky terms, but I am electing to employ them for the sake of simplicity. “Good” and “bad” have nothing to do with legality; morality has nothing to do with legality.
A “drug” is simply a substance that affects you when you ingest it.
“Good,” or safe, or healthy drugs enhance the individual; they will cause you to examine parts of yourself that you would have otherwise overlooked. They turn you inward.
“Bad,” or volatile, or unhealthy drugs destroy the individual. They will cause you to escape from yourself, to run away from those parts of yourself that you do not want to see. They turn you outward.
Psychotropic drugs are “bad,” volatile, and unhealthy drugs. Research the link between these drugs and suicide. Research the link between these drugs and school shootings.
• Homeowners and businesses are forced to pay for you to go to school, regardless of whether these individuals have children in attendance or if they agree with the construct of public “education.”
When you force someone to give you money, you are stealing that money. It does not matter what you do with that money after you have stolen it. Everybody who works for your school is paid with stolen money.
• In school, you are being lied to about the world and how you fit into it. The purpose of school is to instill in you a dependence on authority. You are being taught to do what you are told. This is the only thing that you will take from school.
There are three types of authority that I have found. Natural, voluntary, and artificial.
Natural authority is what your parents have over you. In all of nature, parents have authority over their offspring.
Voluntary authority is what my boss has over me. I signed up to work for her, to learn from her, and to accept guidance from her.
Artificial authority is what your teachers have over you. Artificial authority is what the police have over us. They did not come about this authority naturally and we did not volunteer to be subject to their authority. The source of their authority is our belief that we ought to do what they say. We have this belief because we were taught to believe it in school.
• You are perfect, right now, exactly as you are. You are competent, intelligent, and beautiful. Your mind is capable of things you cannot fathom.
I don’t care what you want to be when you “grow up.” There is no such thing as growing up. Please focus on what is going on with you in this present moment, don’t discount it. You are not your future, you do not owe the world anything. You must look out for yourself right now.