don’t know if there was ever a time…when things were right…’spose I always cared…to some degree…’bout people…what they thought of me and if I was well-liked you could say…guess it was a concern of mine…

go-on…

wanted to be liked…who doesn’t really…a matter of importance…perhaps…in school wanting to be liked…not getting that…silly really…after-all it’s only school…not the real world and how things operate now is it…

you tell me…

kids running ’round in cliques…little groups of friends already formed…and from what…like-minded…same socio-economic-political landscape…I think not…kids don’t think that way now do they…

how do they think then…

they’re looking for deformities now aren’t they…looking for what’s wrong with you…how you don’t quite fit-in…any little weakness on your part to expose…

such-as…

well I don’t know really…a pimply face…bad teeth…usually the physical I ‘spose…pretty-one’s go to the front of the line…they get what they want ’cause of luck…sheer luck of not being born in a bad position…

like…

maybe not coming from the right family…perhaps money is an issue…they got their’s…and here you wait in the mix with the other blokes wanting a piece…just a bit…but is that opportunity there really…really…

you tell me…

no…it is not…they will not let you in their little group ’cause you are different from them…poor with a face like a pizza-pie…maybe a stutter…or your thoughts on things are different…god forbid if one would have an original thought…

so you wanted acceptance…

I still do…yes…I get it…

get what…

tis the real world…that real world does begin in school…

perhaps…

perhaps nothing…you spend this whole miserable life trying to be accepted…

if you choose that route…

what other route is there…you have to become one of them…a lemming…walk the straight and narrow…do as they say…and the one’s that get to be in charge were established long ago on some playground playing tag..smear the queer…you know the routine…some kind of demeaning process they put you through…

I see…

the line is pretty thick mate…and the minute you cross it there is a warning…sirens go-off…telling you to get back where you came from…

but what about diversity being celebrated…

that’s a fucking joke…there’s no diversity in diversity…my good man…the poor will always be among us…and they intend to keep it that way…sure…a couple of strayers might squeak through the muck and the mire…but don’t count on it…don’t you count on it…

and this is the heart of it…

I ‘spose so…

the heart of your anger…

I didn’t make the rules…no-one asked me…my opinion was not sought…

everyone is entitled to an opinion…

really mate…

yes…

what world do you live-in…