Remaining Optimistic

Today, there was a man with a gun on Court Street. He was in some UofM student housing, and when we passed, he was on the second floor.
There were probably 12 police cars there altogether, and that probably clears out the entire city's police force that was on duty.
Shootings are scary things. It makes me wonder what possibly possessed this man to want to possibly harm so many people.
Hurting people hurt people.
Surely, he'd had quite a rough day. I've had a few of those lately. Have they been so bad that I'd carry a gun into some student housing?
Well, no. But that's partly because I wouldn't touch a pistol in the first place. I'm too afraid that it would go off and hurt someone.
Highschool is very different than any other experience I've ever had. People everywhere make really, REALLY sucky choices. Sometimes, I try to say something. Perhaps it's a hint, that maybe that's a stupid idea.
Unfortunately, a lot of times, I keep my mouth shut.
Half of me wonders if anyone tried to ever say something to the man with the gun. Was there anyone in his life that might have suggested to him that he could take his life down a different path?
If everyone suggested that to just one person they knew was headed down a bad road, certainly, crime wouldn't be like it is today.
Our society is so tolerant of things I personally can't imagine! Pot-marijuana- is the norm. People are no longer surprised when someone in highschool says they smoke. In fact, oftentimes, people are more surprised when someone says they don't!
What does that say about our society?
Though things seem to be getting rougher everyday, and people need to help stop it, it's important to remain optimistic as well.
Thou shalt not conform.
I force myself to have the mindset that people are generally really well intentioned! Because, most the time, they are.
I try to treat everyone as though I love them personally. I don't ever want to be the person that just let someone slide through life, watching them destroy their own chances of success.
There is hope for this generation. It's not very abundant, but it's there.
And hope, like marijuana, can grow. People seem to be less aware of the former.
There are those who stand up to their friends, who leave parties, who fight the crowd.
Those are the world-changers, the believers, the ones our hope rests in.
Because in ten years, when the conformists are working at McDonald's, the ones who said no will be taking this world by storm.