(Just a recently rediscovered piece of work I turned out back in Grade 12, many years ago now).
For the average student, such as myself, locked within the confines of the education system with no hope of escape, it’s often hard to picture what is really going on in that great wide world outside the warm and fuzzy enclosed spaces we call classrooms.
To the average student (or any kid for that matter, student or no) – as in touch with the world as we are (or at least as much as the Internet developers dreamed) – the “War on Terror” proposed by some president sitting in a far away house that just so happens to be white against so fanatical terrorist zealots and their “president” who apparently blew away a couple of sizable office buildings seems almost like a video game (an analogy only someone in this digital age could come up with).
Remember those old Mortal Combat Nintendo games? Those classic pieces of video technology where the winner of the game often didn’t just take the loser’s pride but his entire head and spinal cord as well (in addition to dicing up his body, throwing it into a spike-filled pit, corroding it with acid and all manner of other spectacular means of desecrating the recently deceased)! Well, it only seems fitting – given our digital violence charged psyches – that we see this “War on Terror” as an intriguing (and suitably lethal) Mortal Combat sparring match between “Captain America” and “Angry Arab” with all the pretentious amounts of blood and gore that make it such a good show.
So deluded have we become that we half-expect some referee to come out at every U.S/Al-Qaeda confrontation and say, “round one! FIGHT!!!” From there all you have to do is cheer George Bush (or Osama Bin Laden) in his quest to rip out the opposition’s spinal column and strike one of those bravado filled victory poses we love so much while the vanquished quietly falls into a spike filled pit and gets impaled in the most brutal fashion possible (as cheers come from the assembled teenagers of the world).
Well, unfortunately it ain’t that simple kids. Now, as a fellow student, I will put this wonderful “War on Terror” into perspective for you as only a teenager can.
So here’s the scenario: a high school, an environment that I’m sure we’re all familiar with, though this particular high school has a number of noteworthy exceptions to what we students would consider “normal”. Like your average high school, “Terra High” has its own principal, a certain Mr Annan, and he is one of the finest principals a student could ever ask for: Lenient, understanding, supportive, it’s all there folks, everything a student could want in a principal.
Instead of a faculty and student council, Mr Annan runs his school through an assembly called the “U.S” (United Students) and stresses that there is equal representation there for everyone.
Of course, there is misbehaviour at times, like at any high school (except that misbehaviour at this school tends to be rather, well, “explosive” in character) and Mr Annan always takes the time to have a word with the culprits and to “negotiate” them back into the “status quo” of things – like the nice, understanding principal his students know and love.
Now how about we sit in on one of the famed assemblies at this wonderful and worldly high school and again some insight into what it’s like to be a student at Terra High. We see Mr Annan on stage giving a calm and serene speech in his usual way, encouraging his students to be peaceful and constructive. We see top student George Bush threatening to bring in his army men again and sick them on fellow students Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden for allegedly placing a sizable amount of contraband explosive on a model airplane and crashing it into his technology project (which he calls “the world trade centre”) but in truth the two don’t even know each other. We see a skinny little fellow who calls himself “Blair” hanging off Bush’s arm and squeaking out his approval for everything Bush says or does. Rumour has it he’s paid well.
Isn’t there somebody missing from this picture though? All this misbehaviour and where the hell is the bloody vice-principal? Well, the truth is Mr Annan didn’t want to frighten any member of the student body by appointing such an ironhanded disciplinarian, even if such a person existed, so he has refrained from doing so. He felt that the students needed one of their own to look up to as an authority figure, has chosen the beloved George Bush for this role, and lets him and his “secret service” posse take care of troublemakers in serious need of disciplinary action – not that he had much choice in the matter.
Mr Annan takes great pride in giving his students the maximum amount of freedom possible and some are well off enough to enjoy it. But, unfortunately, there are major income gaps at Terra High and a lot of the students have trouble at home. A lot of students can only afford to take what the better off students can “afford” to spare. Mr Annan talks a lot about helping these “unfortunates” but Bush insists that he needs all the resources he can get to ensure “security” so they definitely aren’t holding their breath.
So there you have it, the present situation at Terra High, a most magical place don’t you think? Well, what can I say? I’ve given you the tour, I hope that my insights have given you, my fellow subjects of teenage angst, confidence in the present world order and furthered your depth of understanding. Oh yes, and now I’ll move so you can scream and run for the door.
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