Control: School Shootings…

Don’t shoot up schools!

Don’t do it.

I know.

It’s really, really tempting.

Some people do it. They either die horribly or go to prison for the rest of their lives. They kill a few people, or a dozen people, or maybe two dozen people. Those people are then considered saints. The killer — you — you are remembered as a monster. You don’t want that. You are seen as bad and wrong and everything evil about the outsider mentally ill kids.

It’s really tempting to take a bunch of guns and walk into school and pump round after round into people who give you a miserable high school existence. You think about how mean they are. You want to stand up to them.

This is not the way.

All those assholes are around you, sleeping with beautiful women and playing football and basketball and winning games and impressing people with their potential. You don’t have that. You have an occasional adult telling you to do your homework and then things will get better.

I know.

They sleep with pretty people. They go to parties. I know. You aren’t invited to parties. I’ve been invited to three or four parties my entire life, and I’m forty-three years old. I understand…I am also that guy.

You aren’t the best at homework. You aren’t the best at anything. You struggle to do the work, not knowing the right answers. You read most of the books most of the time and still struggle with the answers. Your friends don’t do everything right, either. You’re not sure they are your friends. You aren’t sure that you can trust them. They might not be on your side.

Shooting people isn’t the answer. I know — it sounds great. You get to die and not care about all this stuff anymore. You get to not hate yourself any longer. You get to shoot at all the happy people. Just don’t, okay? Don’t shoot at the happy people. The answer why is confusing.

They aren’t the problem. Most of them haven’t raped or killed anyone. They aren’t rapists or murderers and therefore don’t deserve to die. They haven’t done enough to deserve this. I don’t want you to show up at school and shoot at people. I don’t want for us mentally ill, scared outsiders to become that guy. I don’t want for us to turn into the monsters that they think us to be.

I know. They drink alcohol on the weekends while we read fantasy novels. I know. They talk to girls, pretty girls, girls who call us losers and refuse to dance with us at a school function when we are paired up. That’s happened to me.

I’ll tell you the truth. Things might get better. They might not. Some of the unpopular kids in high school go on to great things. They lose the weight and travel the world and have adventures, or they sell millions of copies of their novels, or they get a good job doing computer work and raise a family. Things might not get better. You might be forty-three and very unhappy with your prospects in life. You might not have become the boss of that guy who made you unhappy in high school. He may have become your boss. He may have made it in life — whereas you may struggle. I can’t guarantee anything.

Here’s what I can guarantee: shooting people who haven’t committed a felony is stupid. It’s killing people for base ignorance, and you shouldn’t do that. You shouldn’t become the villain they are afraid that you are.

Thanks, and take care, friends.