ANST - was - variations in chivalry/now

[Amy Chastain]

>                     <editing my unneeded at this point reply>
>then went on to:
>> extend those observations and apply them to another segment that
>> everyone considers a "social problem" - teen gangs.  we're at our 
core a
>> species that needs family / tribe / clann ... living a age that is
>> increasingly sundering these links and leaving extreme core damage
>> in the wake ... we seek out what has been taken from us and in 
filling that
>> engineered void we tend to pick-n-choose what we add back in - for 
good or ill.
>> If tribe is not there, tribe will be created ....
>

I realize that I have probably taken this out of context, but this is 
the part that really caught my eye.  I am an ex-gang member and suffice 
it to say that in the gangs that I have seen, the reason is not to 
create "family."  In fact, most of the gang members that I know have a 
strong sense of family...with their immediate and friend families.  Now 
it's true that this is something that they bring to the gang, the sense 
of "we're all in this together" kinda thing, but the main reason is for 
the power, or to prove that you have the "power."  You put fear in 
people's hearts (power over emotions), you didn't get caught stealing 
something (power to outsmart authority), you shot so-and-so (power over 
life and death).  My particular reason was that I was bored.  I had seen 
movies...they made it look so glamorous.  I was young and dumb and 
unaware of consequences that will now affect the rest of my life.  I 
thought the whole idea was pretty darn romantic.(I am a Pisces, so 
forgive me if that seems really stupid)  The people that I met were 
pretty much average kind of people...nice most of the time...til they 
felt inadequate or ignorant.  Then they exercised their "power" in the 
worst way.  Violence was their way of saying "F*** you...we don't care 
what you think of us.  Look at what we can do." 
For those concerned, no I don't have anything to do with them at all, 
and I am extremely lucky that they are proud of my decision to go to 
college and be somebody.  I know that they would not have been so 
generous had I been male.

On a similar note, does anyone know where I can get a tattoo covered 
with flesh color for cheap?

Amy
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