Last month I was working with a guy who ten years ago was my apprentice. Billy is a bit less tightly-wound than he was when I knew him 10 years ago. At breaktime we sat around on the sidewalk outside our construction jobsite and kicked the dirt. I am always interested in what makes people angry. No-one is born angry.
This buddy fairy regularly mentions that he carries a gun almost everywhere: like many Americans he has one in his bedroom too.
But without knowing where people come from, you don't know where they're at.
Billy recently shared a couple of things with us all: he grew up in a desperately poor neighborhood. When he was a pre-teen a man with a gun ran into their house, fleeing the cops, and held his entire family hostage. He speaks about the event like it was yesterday.
He had four siblings. One sister and one brother are currently addicts. Another brother was killed several years ago, aged 21. Billy explained it very matter of factly: "He was shot in the chest four times by Alameda Sheriffs." Naturally, we were all silenced by this statement. After a pause he went on to add, "he lived that kind of life."
Billy is a survivor. He has kids. He's married. He has a job.
He is also a stress case. But then who in America is not?
Why did Billy survive, while his siblings fell into tougher fates? Maybe that's for another blog.
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