Whatever

So, you could just say that I'm just a bleeding heart who refuses to believe badly about people, but, spend five minutes around me, and you'd find out that I'm sarcastic, and all too willing to glare daggers at you if I think you're a threat -- not that I'm related to my father at all. : P

You could say that I'm bad at following authority, so I automatically like people who challenge the status quo, and you might be closer to correct.

Whatever the reason, the "tough guy" act, especially in elementary and middle schoolers cracks me up. Or, should I say, the fact that adults believe their act cracks me up (and ticks me off, depending on the mood I'm in).

You know, the kids who are little punks and think that, if they just act gangster enough, you will automatically distrust them -- thereby proving their point that authority figures are blind, stupid, and shouldn't be trusted.

They may very well have a close relationship with the Principal's office and the school's demerit system, but, once you get past their facade -- which seems to take approximately one encounter and thirty seconds or less -- they're just little boys who want to belong, to be cared about and to be seen.

It might take longer than that before they really trust you, and they will keep tying to push your buttons in order to prove that you don't really care. But, people know when they are seen, and it doesn't take that much looking to see a glint of gold underneath even the most troublesome little -- or not so little -- punk, prep, emo, or goth.

Maybe I'm a bleeding heart. Maybe I'm anti-authority. Maybe I just like kids.