Emotional life of Thugs
As I was starring at a tagged mural, I began to wonder about the emotional lives of gang members/thugs. We think of them as tough and stoic, but what if they’re just sad guys with spray paint?
This defaced mural looked like it was painted by a child — cartoonishly big, dumb happy daisies in a meadow under a smiling sun.
And the gang didn’t just tag their name – they edited it. They turned the flowers’ smiles into frowns. It was like a passive-aggressive note to the world: “I’m having a bad day, and now this flower is too!”
And I thought, “Wow, even gang members are sad… Therapy is expensive… But can of paint is like six bucks”
And that made me think: what if we had more fill-in-the-blank murals designed to let gang members express how they feel?
Help these guys emotionally regulate:
- “Draw a skull if you’re depressed.”
- “Draw an eye if you need a friend.”
- “Draw a penis if you’re lonely.”
Next thing you know, gangs are out there tagging stuff like,
- “We run this block – and I miss my grandma”
- “Thug life, and I’m scared of intimacy”
- “Skull Lords 4 Lyfe. Actually, I’ve been holding onto generational trauma since ‘95”
Then, right below, another gang member tags “Same, bro! (but your handwriting sucks)”
I know, It sounds crazy but THIS COULD WORK!
I mean, if you are not doing anything on socio-economical level, what’s the alternative? More cops? More arrests? More bullets? Give these guys a space to express themselves – maybe instead of robbing a liquor store, they’d be drawing a crying tiger.
In fact, put these murals EVERYWHERE. Bus stops. Law offices. Bank lobbies. Forget motivational posters — give people spaces to vent!
- “Draw a frowning gavel if your job is crushing your soul.”
- “Draw a money bag if capitalism makes you anxious.”
We NEED this – coz the world is insane. Everyone is increasingly miserable, everybody’s stressed, and we’re all just walking frowning daisies waiting to snap.