BAD (any gender, mid teens to mid twenties)
Jamie don't make the call. Come on, Jamie just hear me out. Don't call the cops just yet.
Look, what I did was against the law, yeah. A lot of people would say I'm a bad person because of what I did. A really bad person. And the bad people go to prison. Yeah.
But Jamie? Am I a bad person? We were raised together under this roof... have you ever felt like there was a bad person in the house? And what I did, is it making you feel bad? It doesn't make ME feel bad.
Jamie, I've been doing a LOT of thinking this last hour and you know what? I think the only thing that makes you bad is the story people tell about you... and they only tell that story if you surrender.
The winner gets to tell the story, that's what Mr. Wilson always said in social studies, right? The Nazis massacred the Jews. Thr Nazis got beat so we all get to say they were the bad guys. Our forefathers massacred the Indians. Our forefathers didn't get beat soooo... we're still the good guys... more or less. All that murder is just kinda like "oops, let's try not to do THAT again, okay?"
That's the story. We're okay because we won.
Can you please put away your cell? Jamie, just put it away and let's just agree to call this an "oops."
Copyright 2016 by Matt Haynes. If you would like to use this piece, please credit: "Courtesy of Matt Haynes and The Pulp Stage"