Give a Boy a Gun Read Online Free PDF Page B

And you and your kids couldn’t deal with that. And so you had to do what stupid, ignorant people always do when they don’t understand—you had to attack and torment us.
    And you teachers. I thought you taught us that America is supposed to be about freedom. Kids are supposed to be able to be different without the status quo police smashing us over the head and ridiculing us. But that’s all you teachers did to me and my friends. Just like everyone else, you tried to make us conform to your narrow-minded expectations of how we were supposed to dress and act.
    Well, screw you. Screw all of you. I hope this letter is like a knife in your hearts. You ruined my life. All I’ve done is pay you back in kind.

More of Ninth Grade
    Gary thought it was all a big joke anyway. He always said life was an accident. I mean, life on this planet. It wasn’t anything that was meant to be. Most of the time I didn’t bother to argue. But sometimes it made me sad. People tell me I’m really angry inside. It’s probably true. But at least now I think maybe it can get better. But to Gary it was always hopeless and meaningless.
    I think his mom might have been religious. Anyway, I hear she’s been going to church a lot since what happened.
    â€”Allison Findley
    One day in class we were talking about morality, and Brendan said there was no God. He didn’t say that he didn’t believe in God. He just said there was no God. Likehe had this special knowledge and that was just the way it was, take it or leave it. The whole class went quiet. Even Mr. Flanagan was kind of shocked. He said Brendan could feel that way if he wanted, but that was his opinion and not necessarily the truth. But Brendan, he just kept saying there was no God. Like it wasn’t enough to say what he believed. He had to try and force it down everyone else’s throat too. I really wanted to pound the crap out of him.
    â€”Paul Burns
    It’s stupid to point at one incident and say, “It’s all because of this.” It has to be something that builds gradually and eats at you for a long time until you go psycho. But having said that, I’ll tell you about one thing that happened in ninth grade that really changed Brendan. It was the time they did the swirly to him. They held him by the ankles and dunked his head in the toilet. It was all over school in no time.After Gary and I heard about it, we went looking for [Brendan], but he was gone.
    â€”Ryan Clancy

    Several people said immediately after the shooting that Michael Carneal was an atheist, or at least had associated with atheists.

    Face it, there are two sets of rules: one for those who are in favor and one for those who aren’t. If Deirdre Bunson is talking in world history, it’s like, “Excuse me, Deirdre, now pay attention.” But if Allison Findley is talking, Ms. Arnold stops the class and stares at her. And then the rest of the kids stare at her. It’s a light slap on the wrist for Deirdre. It’s public humiliation for Allison.
    â€”Allison Findley
    [Brendan] called me the second night. I said, “Brendan, where have you been [for the past two days]?” He said he’d been ditching. He couldn’t face anyone at school. I asked why he didn’t tell his parents or the school, and he just laughed. He said if the guys who did [the swirly] found out [he’d told on them], it would only make it worse. He went to school the next day and got two weeks’ detention forunexplained absence. Is that fair?
    â€” Emily Kirsch
    Everybody’s looking for someone to blame. So, of course, since I’m on the [football] team and I had some scrapes with those guys, a lot of people want to blame me. Let me tell you something. I’m not going to deny that I mixed it up with them. I did it, and I’m not proud of it. Obviously, after what they did to me, I’m gonna regret it for as long as I live. But