Come What May

If you'd read the papers last month you'd have notice what'd been the hit, or rather, talk of the town - An act of voluntarily causing grievous hurt to another.

For some years since I started gaining the bulk of my mass, I have been affected by how rapidly we resort to violence in what we set out as, an attempt to make peace. After-school fights are common, club showdowns are the norm, and recently, to add on to the record, road rage gives road commuters a fair share of the headlines. Nevertheless, this ain't the concern, I deduce. The problematic word I deciphered here is "staring", if you share my feel. You needn't be near a bar, club or road to get beaten to pulp. You simply need some bad luck in your way and a considerable 'look' at the wrong person to get what I thought you don't deserve fully. "Staring" incidents - albeit involving an animalistic instinct - a marker of immaturity, can escalate into intense battles within minutes.

Here's the factual part. Social rank can be established over another via the usage of eyes by one party. And here's the cruel part. Only one party gets to win in this establishment, for the first to take his eyes off the other concedes. In an era where "cheap" thrills, social presence and self-esteem matter most to the - reportedly - less educated young men, the mistake of getting into a fight has escalated acutely. The realm of territorical protection further brings the perplexity and room for causation exploration of this matter to a whole new level. Self-control goes out of hand as we try hard to exercise it externally, and territorically in this case.

That being said, it's arguably a stage we all go through. Isn't that just the teenage angst, accompanied by the battle scars? Maybe. Someone once asked me if we were outta that stage. I smiled to him and said, "Be glad to know we're on top of the game."

We're increasingly stressed out these days; the grades, the work and the dough. Or at least it is for me. But I doubt I'd put the same blame on what comes May. This small space that we are entitled on this land we step on, is bound to be congested. Furthermore, violence produces victims, almost by definition.

No one wants to end up as the latter letter V.