On battleships it was important that sailors made sure the cannons were tightened safely and securely because they could become loose and start sliding around the ship during a battle or a storm. If the cannon became loose, it would be tossed in unpredictable directions, wrecking the ship and hurting the sailors. Like a cannon, people can have this same behavior when they lose their temper, having an unpredictable behavior that could possibly hurt others.

Many are considered loose cannons because of the different types of interactions they have with others. Past events that people have gotten involved in can shape the way a person sees another completely.

“I think people see me as a bad person because of all the things I did in the past, like getting expelled from my middle school,” junior Jacob Ramig said.

Ramig has been expelled from two middle schools, both from having violent outbreaks. Remembering someone based off a few hiccups in their life is not fair. Everyone makes mistakes in their life and some people choose to shape their opinion of that person based off their mistakes. When people remember only these mistakes, their opinion is usually locked in and takes a lot to change their mind.

Also, like anyone, if people consistently do irritating things, it is going to make them very annoyed and angry. However, rather than asking people to stop what they are doing, some people hold their anger inside themselves. While this idea might work for a little bit, it can cause people to explode with rage.

“It takes a lot of things to make me really mad, but I always hold in my anger and let it build up inside,” junior Hunter Price said.

The problem with building up anger is that if people keep holding in their emotions over time, they will eventually crack and have a mental and/or physical breakdown. This breakdown leads to people completely losing their cool and getting very angry.

“I got in a fight over something so stupid, but it ended up really bad and I broke a glass table,” Price said.

Even little things can have big consequences if a person always holds in their anger.

Another reason someone might not always have their head in the right place is because of a tough outside life. Undergoing a lot of changes in a short period of time can cause a lot of confusion and a feeling of loneliness during a person’s adolescence. Many outside factors that they cannot control also trouble people when they are maturing.

“Both of my parents passed very recently,” Ramig said. “I’m now living with my grandparents and sometimes it can be very difficult to keep my emotions in.”

Factors, like death, that people cannot control are tough on everybody. It is hard to keep moving forward with important people in one’s life who are gone forever. It is very difficult to juggle all the still trying to remain calm. While these times are very painful, people try to look for a way to numb their pain and emotions by doing drugs or drinking alcohol. This habit can lead to many consequences in the end. During a person’s adolescence, their brain is still maturing and developing; the brain is still learning how to make the correct decision rather than acting on one’s emotions. Taking these substances can affect the way the brain develops and can impair the way a person thinks. This leads to incidents such as fights both verbally and physically.

While these people may seem threatening and you want to avoid them at all cost, most could be good people who have more difficult things going on and do not know exactly how to handle everything. They do not lose their temper and then walk away from the situation, they apologize to the person because they know what they did is wrong.

“If I ever go off on someone, I try to calm myself down and remember what my dad taught me when I did something wrong,” Raming said. “I instantly apologize because I know what I did is wrong.”

Fixing the situation with a person could be better than not doing anything at all. Some people just feel the urge to let go of all their stress because it is bottled up inside them.

Rather than avoiding them, be polite to people who seem to be having an off-day. Everyone can use the extra positivity to lock in their nuts and bolts to keep their cannon from getting loose.