Oh hell, I know I messed up okay. I'm not a guy who has no moral compass. Mine might be out of whack sometimes, I get things wrong - a lot, but I do them trying to do what I think is the right thing But people take me the wrong way, they don't understand. They say I do people a disservice, well what about the one done to me? \Who's standing up for the little guy when he's standing up for the bigger picture? I was only trying to help and I got to this place. Tied to the bars of my cell all night. Gloomily reflective, angrily unremorseful and dying for the loo before I wet my pants and humiliate myself further. And all for what you ask? Why love of course...
Yes, I'm twenty and my hormones are probably at their peak and I'm driven to distraction by many things. I'm also easy to inflame, not just in love but other things too. I sec a cause and l'm there to defend. I'm not a violent person, nor a particularly volatile and overly assertive type. I just run my mouth a lot about things I'm passionate about and it usually lands me in trouble. I like to think I've an above average brain, I shower, brush my teeth and change underwear daily (and believe mc that's above average behaviour for guys my age!) heck, I even say hello to random strangers once in a while. I'm congenial, but defective they say. I relate to all but understand little - or so they'd have you believe. I spoke of love that drove me to it. It's not like that, about some hot chick I'm bent up about, nor some dude either in case you're wondering It's about love, but this time not someone I fancy (which is rare by the way 'cause most times they open their mouths and I instantly get a picture they aren't how they portray themselves. I've been on enough Tinder dates to have sussed that out!) The love I speak of is for our planet not a person. I stood up for our Mother Earth like any green child of hers would, and I got knocked back and pulled down. I fought the major organisation, the big cog in the wheel of industry and they ground me up and spat me out. I couldn't keep my big mouth shut, and for that, (along with a minor offence for dropping my plackard on a policemen's head as I went down) I'm now paying the price. I'm not violent as a rule, it's not in my nature, but the "Assault and Battery" charge they have me on says otherwise.
It was obvious to mc that the kids round here need a playground. The only one we've got within a five mile radius is a large swathe of land slap bang in the middle of the city. It's where us inner city kids learn a little about nature. It's been there for like ever, and now some crazy beaurocrat decides they wanna sell off a big chunk of it to a construction firm. Like the city needs more high rises and tower blocks, more corporate assembly centres, all to make a fast buck. You hear about these things but you don't think they'll happen in your neighbourhood. Somehow one minute the land is protected, and the next it's been recategorized and a green light to it's demolition is secretly scheduled. I played in these woods for pretty much the whole of my youth. I learned to climb trees and spot birds and animals l'd never have seen otherwise. I played on the swing park when I was a toddler and remember my mum watching over me. Hope she isn't watching mc now from Heaven, if so I wonder how she feels about her boy now, tied to a prison cell?
So when I stood there in the long line of banner waving people, shouting our slogans shaming the fat cats who profit from this sort of thing, I never expected it all to get out of hand. I mean, I was stood next to middle aged mom's with their grandkids in tow. There were frail looking pensioners (who looked and acted even meaner than I possibly ever could and used words I'd never expected them to even know.) and tagalongs like dog walkers just caught in the moment. The State had hired some council rep with a megaphone to herd us into control, whilst a huge bunch of the cities finest in their pristine uniforms corralled us into a safer more manageable zone. I didn't understand the rhetoric, it got me annoyed. They kept spouting stuff about jobs and the local economy and all I heard was, "stuff you, we've made the irreversible decision." And then it happened, someone threw a stone and i hit the announcer on the side of his head. I looked around and saw some guilty faces, but too many of them on little old dears and moms you'd never peg the blame on. The crowd surged forward, I went with it and all hell broke loose.
To be continued.
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