Gisborne Boys High School is the microcosm/little thing that represents the big thing of a national problem.
A ruthless pecking order was (is still?) retained for the purposes of, what, producing men?
Have we considered the kind of man, though.
That is one stage in growing up, finding and flexing your nuts. We can easily forget that we need to evolve day to day to day to day to day to ad infinitum.
Forget to take our heads out of our arses, basically.
The slips doled out upon having stood up to the domineering father-figures (the particular teachers I'm talking about would know who they are) that were meant to guide us, or getting in a fight with one of our classmates, you know, childish stuff.
This only taught our teenage and adolescent minds that doing this was how you got into bro-town, and the respect of our peers, some of them at least.
This mindset is clearly unhealthy, leading to the 200 person parties ending in a near riot at the back, causing untold hassle for the police. People doing wrestling moves on each other in class as jokes, for no good reason, and no doubt even more extreme idiocy that I never personally experienced.
These were the mark of our graduating years, late 90s to early 00s by my count. If I missed out your year, but you insist that you're staunch too, well con-gratu-fucking-lations.
I remember getting my first Friday after school detention, and it being double-take time for the outdoor assembly when goody-ten-shoes me had to stand and be acknowledged.
Instant degree of a silly sort of notoriety.
I look at my friends, and by extension all the men in Gisborne of quarter-life-crisis having age.
We have all this reckless pride, but wasted it, and some of us continue to waste it, on jousting with each other and hoping that someone was watching.
While we're so occupied, butting heads with headbutters, the villians slipped past us, to our women and children.
What are we doing to ourselves?
Wake up New Zealand.
THAT was the message in Once Were Warriors. (a review)
You idiots!!11141ONE112!@3$#
P.S. Now a girl write up the female version of this.
P.P.S I wanna give a shout-out to Ray-Ray and Big Steve
P.P.P.S Watch Warbrick.
edit - trim down the negativity