Living Proof

You could have everything in the world you can possibly want: a nice car, good looks, wealth, education and anything else you would desire. The one thing it doesn't guarantee is happiness, contentment, a healthy mind…peace. Sometimes I wonder about some people I come across who seemingly "have it all" - but then think, just by their attitude toward life and people in general, they're not at peace at all. When I look at the videos of Elliot Rodger, here you see this handsome young man, going to college, has a gorgeous BMW and somehow, somewhere, something's lacking. You can hear it - you can feel it - you can sense that something is a bit 'off'. When I first saw his face, I said, "He killed all those kids?" He's gorgeous and probably comes from a well-to-do family. But why would this guy have any problems with girls? Why would girls reject this gorgeous kid? Didn't he have it all? And then I listened. I observed. He's 'off...

Have you ever sat there watching the news wondering what makes people do the things they do? What makes a mother want to kill her child? What makes a full grown adult want to kill an 8 year old boy? And most of all, what makes anyone want to kill --period? I’ve had this discussion with many friends and relatives. You really have to wonder what goes on inside the mind of a killer. I can see if it was self defense or perhaps, a home invasion where somebody got killed - things of that nature. I can even understand yet not comprehend, the reasonings behind crimes of passion, where a lover finds his or her spouse in bed with someone else and flips out. It’s a moment of pure insanity. There are so many other reasons for people killing, like a disgruntled employee, constant bullying that ends up in a revengeful pool of blood, and sadly, suicide. All of these things are unfortunate sides of human nature. A person, depending on their biological make up, mental stability or lack thereof, can do ...

For one, it’s cold out there. It’s below zero and my nose is red and runny. I can’t turn on the fireplace, because the night before the high winds made the smoke back up into my apartment making me cough like a mule all night. Our gas and electric bill was close to $400.00, leaving me to watch the gage a bit more carefully so we don’t pay up the wazoo next month. I’m starting to think the Amish really know what’s best. When I woke up early this morning, I went to go make coffee – first thing. I had to take the grains out from the previous morning, which the little paper thing happened to rip, leaving me with a pile of coffee grinds all over my tiled floors. Not in the mood to clean, but I sucked it up and did it grudgingly. My eggs had shells in it. Nuff’ said. I found cold air floating inside because the flu of my fireplace was still opened. I couldn’t close it because there were a few embers brewing bright red from the night before. I work as a freelance writer for a magazine. I had ...