Incel_Doomer
Officer
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- Joined
- Feb 13, 2023
- Posts
- 618
(No I didn't go to school in the 70s, it's just a relevant song.)
I can understand how combat veterans get freaked out by fireworks or a group of people in Islamic dress etc. I still live near my old secondary school and pass by it sometimes. I went to university far away, but going to a university town with all the student accommodation and cafes and students walking around etc. can do it too. It happened today. I don't know what it is exactly that sets it off, sometimes seeing the schoolkids/students in that setting doesn't have a big impact but sometimes I'm overwhelmed by waves of horrific sadness and just break down, thankfully I'm usually in the car, alone.
I get flashbacks to an awful time of my life, surrounded by bright, young people at the peak of their lives all with their friends and boyfriends, girlfriends and parties and me just alone. I actually tried to kill myself when I was 18, didn't work obviously. I knew then that it would never get better. But at least in adult life you're not surrounded by that context of people with lots of free time and energy and no responsibilities hooking up and socialising etc. There's something special about that time in your life that is imprinted on your brain for the rest of your life. If you had a happy time with friends, girlfriends and fun escapades you will always have that. If you were an outcast with no friends or girls interested in you then unfortunately that will cast a shadow over you until your dying day.
Joseph Szabo was a high school teacher in the US from the 70s to the 90s approximately and is the most famous teenage photographer I know. His stuff of course is dated now but still very good. This kind of thing I only experienced vicariously though TV, films etc.