{we all get a cut}

I sat down on the bus and decided that I felt like listening to an album. I was on my way home, and I was tired from a day of thinking. During the day I had been writing my final paper, arguing that we need to accept and think about the fact that human beings are animals. In the evening I had my class that this paper was for, teaching world issues.

I sat on the bus watching the suburbs pass through the inside of the bus reflected on the window. I listened to the sounds of Thee More Shallows, trying to follow along the amazing lyrics of their album More Deep Cuts. I thought about the class and the discussion we had. In the past week the class has taken a surprising turn, with presentations and lectures being replaced by really open, personal discussion. Today each person in the class was given a chance to sum up their life growing up, and how they worked out their roles in consumer society. It became a sort of therapy session, with people sharing quite personal stories about their past.

From these stories the conversation wandered over to the various struggles of growing up. At one point the conversation led us to ask if there was anyone who didn't have to deal with being bullied while growing up, and only one person raised their hand. Its things like that that make me realize when I walked through the halls in grade nine feeling completely and utterly alone, I actually feeling alone with quite a lot of other people who felt alone.

The bus stopped and I got off and walked through empty parking lots on the way to my house. And this song came on,

Ask Me About Jon Stross by Thee More Shallows

I stopped on a patch of grass between fields of pavement and sat down, felling the wind blow over my skin. I thought about those days when life felt barley worth living, and I tried to feel sad. There was no one around and I felt like the song was walking around all of the memories that had been brought up. But instead of being sad, the song came to its wonderful end and I smiled, knowing that what got me through growing up was the people I love.

So thanks for letting me share this with you,

thank you.









**links: the pink home of TheeMoreShallows , TMS myspace with songs from their new album