I Learned That If You Want To

Johnny Almost Grinned As He Nodded. "tuff Enough," He Managed, And By The Way His Eyes Were Glowing, I Figured Southern Gentlemen Had Nothing On Johnny Cade.

I Learned That If You Want To Get Somewhere, You Just Make Up Your Mind And Work Like Hell Til You Get There.

Suddenly It Wasn't Only A Personal Thing To Me. I Could Picture Hundreds And Hundreds Of Boys Living On The Wrong Sides Of Cities, Boys With Black Eyes Who Jumped At Their Own Shadows. Hundreds Of Boys Who Maybe Watched Sunsets And Looked At Stars And Ached For Something Better. I Could See Boys Going Down Under Street Lights Because They Were Mean And Tough And Hated The World, And It Was Too Late To Tell Them That There Was Still Good In It, And They Wouldn't Believe You If You Did.

I Had It Then. Soda Fought For Fun, Steve For Hatred, Darry For Pride, And Two-bit For Conformity. Why Do I Fight? I Thought, And Couldn't Think Of Any Real Good Reason. There Isn't Any Real Good Reason For Fighting Except Self-defense.

They Used To Be Buddies, I Thought, They Used To Be Friends, And Now They Hate Each Other Because One Has To Work For A Living And The Other Comes From The West Side. They Shouldn't Hate Each Other.