Sometime Respect Must Be Taken
In my youth being an introvert and a nerd [weird for black folks in the 70's and 80's], it caused me to be ignored, not taken seriously, viciously made fun of, and in some cases downright shunned altogether. So, I felt ignored, unloved, and unvalued . . . invisible, which made expressing myself to others painstakingly difficult. This was to the point of nearly impossible.
But I got into my first fight and blacked out and nearly killed a kid and although it was negative, attention flooded to me like a tsunami . . . and I loved it! I felt seen for the first time in my life, and it was intoxicating, to say the least. Girls were intrigued, boys were jealous, school staff was terrified, and my family was worried because I had discovered my first carnal love, violence.
So, I studied, practiced, and trained in boxing and martial arts, and carved for myself the body of an adonis, which gained me even more attention, and this only caused the girls to flock me even harder. And this awakened a new monster within, lust. And having my pick of girls to be with even meant some that with already with someone else, and you guessed it, that caused more fights. Because of this, my reputation as a monster in the sheets grew and as a result my reputation as a monster in the streets was right there neck and neck with it.
This introduced me to a new arena of fighting . . . underground bare-knuckle fighting, which was very illegal at the time, but I loved every minute of it . . . every busted lip, every black eye, every bruise . . . I freakin' loved it! And though, by nature I was still an introvert, I wasn't being ignored anymore. Respect had become mine for the taking. And I took it with authority.
And even though I am a born-again Christian now and don't thrive on violence anymore, my past reputation has seen to it that I am heard and still respected even now. So, the next time somebody tells you, "Violence accomplishes nothing", you look them right in the eye and smile as you tell them, "That's only because you're not applying it correctly."
yousharknotpass
izzy806
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s