The big news on Monday was the big fight on Friday. Here’s the story. At a party earlier in the week, Girl X, from my school and Boy Y, from another school got into an argument. Apparently, the argument escalated and some pushing ensued. Boy Z, also from my school stepped in and told Boy Y that it wasn’t cool to hit a girl and the two Boys engaged each other in a "scuffle." Nothing much became of this though. A few days later, the two boys happened across each other at the YMCA. Using their amazing powers of reason, they came to the logical conclusion that they should go outside and attempt to inflict physical injury upon each other. That’s just what they did. Shortly after embarking on their masochistic journey, some friends of Boy Z noticed the two beating on each other and decided to help inflict physical injury upon Boy Y. After they deduced that enough damage had been done to Boy Y, the victors left the scene.

Boy Y, obviously angry that his ass was beaten by more people than he had asked for, realized that unless he got revenge, he would never regain his dignity. He gathered his friends and they thought long and hard about a way to humiliate their opponents and regain their comrade’s honor. Suddenly, they had it, they would beat them to a pulp with baseball bats! What a great idea! Not too little, not too much, but just right.

On Friday night, Boy Y and his friends gathered up their bats and drove to my school in hopes that Boy Z was attending the basketball game. Guess what? He was! The plan was moving along perfectly. The next step called for a fight, so they started one. An acquaintance of Boy Z drove up in his car and saw that men with bats were going to beat the shit out of Boy Z, so he got out of the car and stood with his friend against his assailants. It must have been a valiant effort, but in the end, none of my unarmed classmates could best their club holding rivals. Boy Y and his associates proceeded to beat the shit out of them. Boy Z received a broken arm and most likely a plethora of bruises, cuts and sore muscles. The friend who stood by his side was not as lucky and took more baseball bats to the head than he bargained for. The police said that he would have died had he been any smaller in size, but he settled for some pins and plates in his face along with the plethora of cuts, bruises and sore muscles I’m sure he received also.

This is all second hand information so the details might be a little off, but the story is true. Supposedly, some friends of Boy Z are going to get weapons of equal or "better" stature than the bats the friends of Boy Y carried and go for revenge. All this time, I wonder if they realize just how fucking stupid they are and how fucking pointless their actions are. I want to inform them that they are injuring themselves and others for no reason, but they wouldn’t understand. Their sheepish high school mindset can’t be infiltrated.

A big fear of mine, that I know will manifest itself, is that the same high school mindset that encourages these idiots to beat the shit out of each other will persevere beyond high school. I’ve seen Cops. I’ve seen daytime talk shows. These are the same people that I see on the worst programming on television. I imagine the school that conditioned that shirtless bloodied man screaming at police while they force him to the ground to handcuff him is no different than the school I attend. As he flings about wildly on the cement in a pool of blood and fresh vomit, I think of my classmates.

These are the idiots I live with nearly every day of my life. It’s not an isolated incident. Sure, it’s an extreme example of the stupidity I witness, but trust me, examples abound. I walk down a hallway and hear my classmates say things like "she best not be talkin’ shit about me, ‘cause I’ll kick her ass." I hate to interrupt your tantrum, but I just had to remind you that you are an idiot. I’m walking outside at lunch and see some kid kick a garbage can over, all the while laughing with his friends about how cool he is. I’ve got news for you, you are not cool, you are an idiot also. Walking by the boys bathroom, I am pelted with the stench of cigarette smoke. How stupid can you get? Do you think nobody can smell your Camels if you smoke them in the bathroom? Besides advertising your crimes to those who seek to punish you, you are forcing every innocent passerby to inhale your disgusting habit. Don’t be an ass, smoke outside.

Am I the only one who notices the lack of logic with which my peers conduct themselves? I must be among a minority, because their common sense levels don’t seem to be on the rise. Avoiding it seems impossible. Why can’t these people ever take time from their busy schedules to realize that they are all stupid fucking morons?

oblivion@oblivion.net