Non-conformity and the enemies of peer pressure.

I was born to be against the main stream. I don't know where I got my attitude and irreverence from. Maybe it was genetics. My father didn't follow convention either.

My stubborn nature got me in trouble with my mother on numerous occasions. She wanted me to be the stylish, popular kid who wore the latest fashions and conformed to the behavior and norms of the day. I never lived up to her expectations in that respect.

Fashion made my skin crawl and the popular kids were nothing but a bunch of candy assed air heads with a gaggle of wannabe followers. Just watching them operate made my stomach turn.

I always had an opposite opinion to contradict the teacher's liberal spew that was considered dogma at the time. They wanted punish me for not going along with their leftist agenda but my exemplary behavior prevented overt action. The teachers would try to humiliate me as payback for not accepting the socialist party platform. Damn hippy losers...

Luckily, I had a couple of teachers that were Korea and WWII vets. I got along really well with any educator with some realistic life experience and wisdom.

Organized sports was another thing I hated deeply. I was appalled when Football players were "given" grades so they could play that Friday night. The teachers who buckled under the pressure and fraudulently altered grades for players lost every ounce of my respect.

I feel that I was cheated out of a good part of my education because of coaches that pulled double duty as a history and social studies teachers.

Walking into a "coach class" meant doing whatever mimeographed worksheet he had stolen from the teacher next door. Never a lecture, no questions and answers. The fat fucker would just sit at his desk with his stretch coach shorts and giant coach wallet in his back pocket giving him a permanent leftward list. To make matters worse, if there was a football player in the class they would not have to do the assignment, but instead sit on the coaches desk and read the sports page. I could see the dumbasses lips move as they read.

Sophomore year of high school, my mother tried to force me to play sports. I would always trash the sign up forms and apply any other forms of passive resistance I could muster. Finally they gave up on me thank god. There was no way I wanted any part of the corrupt establishment of organized sports, it's hazing, elitism and immorality.

Thinking back I'm sure I just made it tougher on myself by not giving in and conforming just a little, I just couldn't help it, the more they leaned on me the harder I fought back.

At the time, people would tell me: "cherish these years because they are the best of your life"

Screw that nonsense! I can't help it if some 45 year old guy lives his entire life based on his high school career. Still to this day, I will meet someone and they will ask me what school I went to. What the fuck? Who cares? You may as well ask me what brand of toilet paper I wipe my ass with.

College was a little easier. It was a large anonymous school with no real community. I could go the whole day without speaking to anyone if I wanted to. Theater shaped classrooms with 350 seats pretty much assured that you wouldn't be bothered.

My co-workers were a different story, I was saddened by how many decent normal young men were goaded into getting some phony ass earrings and cheap sleazy tattoo just because everybody in the early 90's had a mullet, wife beater T Shirt and a rebel flag inked on their upper arm.

Sad.


I'm glad I'm finally at an age where it doesn't fricking matter what I wear or do and people pretty much leave me alone.

I get the last laugh. Many of my contemporaries still can't read, have a stupid tattoo, holes in their ears and a nagging football injury from 11th grade.