True Brotherhood

In the mindset of our current society’s culture, the terms ‘Brother’ and ‘Brotherhood’ have evolved into meaningless clichés. A worthless adolescent tagline, like elementary school kids calling a classmate BFF, when in reality they won’t even like each other after a few weeks. Even the term ‘Friend’ has lost its meaning. It amazes me how people can claim to have hundreds of ‘Friends’, yet know nothing about them, nor have they ever met them. But that’s the world they live in.

In our world, however, the label of ‘Brother’ has deep and serious implications. To claim your a ‘Brother’ is to declare that there exists a bond; unbreakable and secure. To call a man a brother means he has proven himself to be loyal, trustworthy, and straightforward, (even when he has lapses of common sense). A true brother doesn’t do things for you just so he can hang with you. A true brother doesn’t suck up in the hopes you’ll let him be your friend. No, men become brothers because they can’t do otherwise. It is as natural as eating, or taking your next breath.

True brothers don’t start out to form a bond. That bond is formed at the basest level of his soul, in his spirit. Unlike blood relatives, this bond doesn’t allow for hurt feelings over conceived wrong doing. You don’t break ties because you misconstrue what was said or heard. It calls for getting things out in the open and clarified. And when all is said and done, it calls for trust. Because, as said earlier, your brother is proven.

Brotherhood is standing beside, and in some cases, stepping in front of, your partner. Not because you have to, or because it’s what is expected. No, true brotherhood is covering your partner’s back simply because it’s the thing to do. And a true brother isn’t afraid to hurt your feelings and let you know if you’re screwing up. He will give you his last dollar if it’s what you need. He will also give you a good kick in the butt, if that’s what is needed. Even when everyone else turns their backs on you, he’s still there for you. He doesn’t have to constantly be held up and confirmed. In fact, true brothers can go months, years, and even decades without contact. But you know he’s there, and will show up if needed, even if he’s not asked. And no matter how long it’s been since you’ve seen him, there’s no awkwardness. No fear that the bond has been broken.

This form of brotherhood runs even deeper than just the him, because his family becomes your family. No questions, no reservations. His wife is your sister. His kids are your nieces and nephews. And they are all as much of your responsibility as if they lived in your household. This brotherhood I’m speaking of is extremely rare. Few men have ever had the privilege of experiencing it. I feel for them, as I am one of the few. And that makes me a very blessed and privileged man.

THE DISCLAIMER:

Now I’m not talking MC brotherhood. That’s a totally different animal. That form of brotherhood is loyal to the Club. Their bond is based on the Club. They don’t (and shouldn’t) let just anyone in without a proven dedication to the Club. I get it. I respect it. But what I’m addressing here is personal brotherhood. How a patch holder deals with the possible conflict between the two, I have no idea. But then, as those who wear a patch would tell you, that's why I don't have one.

Fathers and Sons

Went out to eat with one of my sons and his fiancé last weekend. Had a great time. Spending time with my boys is something I rarely get to do anymore. It got me thinking about the whole ‘Father-Son’ dynamic. As it is with most men and their sons, this relationship may be tenuous at best, and non-existent at worst. We fathers want our boys to become successful men. Not only in their chosen occupations, but in all aspects of their lives. And with that desire, we tend to appear harsh and judgmental with our ‘constructive criticism’. In turn, we sons want to figure things out for ourselves.  We have a different world view, as we feel we live in a different world. And we think we know far more than that old dinosaur ever will. But as it is written, ‘there is nothing new under the sun’.  When you strip away all the distractions of technology, politics, etc., nothing has ever changed. We parents still make major mistakes. We still carry around huge regrets. We still try to train up our kids the best we can. And they continue to try our patience, cause our hair to turn gray (and even turn loose), they keep us stressed, worried, and cause us to stay up late at night. This has been from the beginning, and will continue to the end.

Was I hard on my sons? Probably, but I truthfully feel that that’s a relative question. My father was a hard man,as was his father, and the father before that. My Dad never told me anything, except what I was doing wrong, which was everything. And this was his way until the day he died last year. (Not whining, just fact.) But his dad wouldn’t say anything at all. He would just haul off and hit you. Usually with his sixty year old sweat hardened felt hat.  (Don’t know which was worse from getting hit, the sting or the gross factor.)  And I won’t even get into how hard my Great-grandfather was. Let’s just say he was a real sweetie.

In other words, an exchange of compliments and niceties were not practiced between the males in my family. Was I any better? Probably not. Just like virtually every other man, I came into fatherhood with a lot of baggage. I had treated people I truly cared about, and who cared about me, with total disregard, and caused them unwarranted pain and sorrow.  I made choices and did such atrocious things that I can’t even talk about them, much less tell my kids. All these things I live with daily. So, there were things I didn’t want my kids to go through, but couldn’t (or wouldn’t) explain why. So, no, I didn’t do as good of a job as I should have. But by God’s merciful grace, three of them have turned into awesome men whom I respect and am truly proud of. Number four currently appears to be out in the world going through all the things I wish I could’ve kept him from. So, not knowing where he is or what he’s doing, I can’t include him in that statement. (And, Son, if you’re reading this, know I am constantly praying you’re doing well.) This I will say without hesitation, I love all my sons. Do they do things that irritate me? Of course. Do they fall in line with everything I taught them? Of course not.  But such is the way of fathers and sons.

Oh, and knowing just how sensitive daughters can be if they’re left out of something, let me add that the dynamics of a Father-Daughter relationship is quite different. For one thing, girls are moody. I mean they can go from giggles to sobs in less than a blink. Though we try to make both our sons and daughters tough and self-reliant, we will rarely jump to our son’s defense, demanding he ‘man up and deal with it’.  When, on the other hand, we find our daughters in tears, we want to go kill someone. And if the reason turns out to be something we did or didn’t do, we get all apologetic. ( I'm talking my generation of fatherhood. Nowadays a lot of boys are treated as if they were the daughters)

Bottom line, if a man’s home is his castle, then his daughters are the princesses. And mine are the most straight-up, flat-out, no holds barred, quintessential personification of princess awesomeness. Even with a basket case for a father, they are truly amazing.

What's With All The Gun Nuts

(This was actually written on March 12, but forgot to hit 'Publish')

What is going on with the proliferation of so many gun nuts in this country. What is with the illogical and emotionally charged rhetoric from the self appointed ‘champions of safety and wellbeing’ and the ‘defenders’ of our nation’s youth. You know the ones I’m talking about. Those who desire to change our nationstate made up statistics that have no basis in reality.
Case in point, when rape survivor Amanda Collins, who bravely addressed the Colorado legislative hearing regarding its proposed ban on concealed firearms, Sen. Evie Hudak (D – CO) chimed in with “actually, statistics are not on your side, even if you had a gun, …for every one woman who used a handgun to kill someone in self-defense, 83 were murdered by them.”  (View Video)
The Senator’s stats may say that, but the facts do not side with her. According to the FBI, Americans use firearms in self defense 2.1 million times annually. Cases where firearms are used criminally amount to 579,000. Seventy percent of those cases are carried out by criminal repeat offenders.

These gun nuts are so freaked out about firearms they present some of the most bizarre methods of defense imaginable. We’ve been told that a woman carrying a whistle is safer than one who ‘conceal carries’. (“It’s why we have call boxes, it’s why we have safe zones, it’s why we have the whistles.” CO State Rep. Joe Salazar D – Thornton). In an era when 1 out of 5 young women are raped on college campuses, they have been instructed to pee and/or vomit on the attacker; tell the attacker they have a disease or are menstruating; and if that doesn’t work, they are to yell, hit and bite. Talk about a war on women.

But these gun nuts aren’t content in just taking law abiding citizen’s defense away, they are brainwashing a whole generation on the ‘evils of anything gun’.

In Florida, three high school students put themselves at risk to disarm a young man who was pointing a loaded gun at the head of another student. The culprit was arrested. The heroes who reacted and possibly saved another student’s life were suspended. Yeah, that’s right. The Cypress Lake High School in Fort Myers, Florida, suspended the three brave students for having been involved in an incident involving a weapon. One of the suspended students was shocked and confused: “How are they going to suspend me for doing the right thing?”

The school justified the suspension, which lasted for the rest of the week, on the ground that the students who prevented a deadly shooting were part of an “incident” involving a weapon. Alberto Rodriquez, speaking on behalf of the Lee County School District, stated that “If there is a potentially dangerous situation, Florida law allows the principal to suspend a student immediately pending hearing.” To bad the law doesn’t ‘allow’ removal of administrators for blatant stupidity.

In the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, schools around the country have reacted with indecorous hysterics at the slightest hint of “gun possession.” And there doesn’t even need to be any actual guns involved for the schools to act.

When 9-year-old Hunter Fountain’s mother brought 30 homemade cupcakes to Schall Elementary school in Caro, Michigan, each decorated with two-inch high toy soldiers, the school principal removed the soldiers from the cupcakes.  Why? Because the toy soldiers were “insensitive.”

In mid-February, a seven-year-old boy in Loveland, Colorado was suspended from school after throwing an imaginary grenade at a box that had imaginary bad guys. According to Mary Blair Elementary School, the boy broke the school’s rigid rule against pretend weapons and pretend fighting. Wish there was a ‘rigid rule’ against pretend education that plagues too many American public schools.

One would think that this “make-believe grenade” incident, which was widely ridiculed, would have halted the schools’ mad rush to expel imaginary guns, but no such luck.

7-year-old Josh Welch was trying to make a mountain with his strawberry pastry, one bite at a time. He ended up with a squished mess that was said to look like a gun.  What did the Baltimore Park Elementary School in Maryland do? Yep, they suspended him for two days on the ground that he “used food to make an inappropriate gesture”.

But that’s not the end of this litany of stupid. As if their hysteria wasn’t enough, a short time later the school sent a letter home with the students informing the parents that, due to their children possibly being traumatized by this “gun” incident, the school offered counseling.

Right. We now need to counsel our children against the trauma of seeing a kid make a mess of his Pop Tart.

But wait, there’s more food violence from our little psychopaths. A ten-year-old boy at the David Youree Elementary School in Smyrna, Tennessee, was punished with social isolation at lunch time because he brandished a pizza slice at his school friends. It wasn’t just any pizza slice, of course. As Nashville’s News 2 Investigates reported, it was a slice of pizza that after David took a few bites of, vaguely looked like a gun. When a fellow student commented on the slice’s resemblance to a gun, the ten-year-old picked it up and pretended to fire shots into the air. School officials, terrified by the danger the pizza posed, suspended him.

James Evans, the Rutherford County School District spokesman, said, “students reported he was making some threatening hand gestures, that he was shooting other kids at the table.” Worse, when school officials interrogated him, he denied that he’d done anything wrong. He obviously didn’t know that it’s a crime to make-believe.

Few would argue that schools need to take shooting threats seriously. But what if it’s not even a threat? What if it’s just a perceived (as in manufactured) threat. What if it’s from a five-year-old girl, who’s talking about using a bubble gun that she had at home? Well of course the culprit must be suspended.

This was the stance of the Mount Carmel Area School District in Pennsylvania, where a 5-year-old girl told a classmate that she wanted to shoot herself and a friend, with her pink “Hello Kitty” cartoon-ray shaped bubble blower. All the little girl wanted to do was blow bubbles on herself and her friend.

Proving that there’s no stupid like liberal administrator stupid, the school termed the “incident” a terroristic threat,” searched the girl’s person, (even though she truthfully told them that her “gun” was at home), threatened her with arrest, yelled at her in front of her classmates, and then suspended her for 10 days.

In Maryland, again, two six-year-olds in kindergarten were suspended for one day. Their crime? During recess, they pointed their fingers at each other while playing “cops and robbers.”

Then there’s Sumter County School District in Sumter, South Carolina. For show-and-tell, a six-year-old girl brought a broken, transparent plastic airsoft gun that contained some easily-seen soft plastic bullets to her school. If this toy really had upset the teacher, she should have placed it in her desk for being inappropriate, and returned it to the little lady at the end of the day.

Unfortunately, we no longer live in a rational world. The teacher confiscated the toy and the administration called the police, who threatened the little girl with arrest if she dared to set foot on school grounds for the rest of the semester.

I could go on and on, but hopefully you get the point. By observing the actions of our public schools, and not just with the above subject, but an assortment of other subjects, it appears they are hell bent on promoting increased illiteracy, violence, and entitlements; while pushing forward the decline of innovation, motivation, and self reliance.

When I was in school, we were taught ‘how’ to think. Now our children are taught ‘what’ to think. This causes the elimination of true debate. When young boys and girls are praised for doing nothing but showing up, and publicly ridiculed and punished for playing make believe, we eliminate individual thought.  Arguments are just regurgitated talking points force fed to our youngsters. Now, instead of looking at the whole story, forming an honest opinion, and citing  facts, they take any opposition as a personal attack, to which they react with emotional outbursts and insults.

But we can’t completely fault our teachers. Many are fine caring individuals. But their hands are tied. No, the blame falls on us, the parents. We allowed for the nationalization of our education system. This took it out of the local level (the parents) and put it in the hands of bureaucrats. We also drank in the notion that we (parents, grand-parents, etc.) are incapable of overseeing the education of our children.

Nov. 7, 2012

 This morning, a young lady at work asked the question, “What would Jesus do?”

Without much thought I quickly responded with, ‘Weep.’

 “He would say, ‘Pray to Me, please’.” She said

I instantly stood rebuked. She was absolutely correct.

I love my country. I am grateful that I had the privilege of being born and raised here. Does the fact that the leaders of this country have turned away from her greatness to pursue ideologies that are proven disastrous change my loyalty? Certainly not. It does however remind me of how fragile this republic is, and it saddens me.

I recall how the Israelites demanded a king over Israel. God told Samuel to tell the people what a king would take from them, that everything they owned would become his. Land, livestock, even their children would belong to the king. The people replied, “No, we must have a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations.” (1 Sam. 8-19)

That’s where we are now. For some insane reason, a small majority in this nation wants to turn ‘The Land of the Free’ into just another European country. This totally baffles me. Our forefathers gave everything they had, including their lives, to found a nation set apart from Europe, a nation that would be a ‘beacon on a hill’ to the rest of the world. And they accomplished that. While we held onto the principles they set forth, we flourished. But somehow we allowed those who hate liberty to slowly creep in and tear down what had been so costly to acquire.

Just as the Israelites chose to reject the governance of the Creator of the Universe in lieu of the rule of a man, America has rejected the system God set up for her.

Some say the American Ideal will be unable to rebound from this election. That four more years of our current policies will destroy us. I don’t know. I believe that there are those who will continue to pursue the tenets of the U.S. Constitution. I believe there are thousands of parents and grandparents who will teach their children the truth about the USA and what she stands for. I believe that we are not done yet. But I also believe that if we refuse to bow our knee to the Most Sovereign Father, our children will be forced to bow their knee to the state. So, please, take time to pray. Pray for our nation, that she once again will be that Beacon To The World. Pray for our lawgivers and our justices, that they hold fast to their oath to the Constitution of the United States. And yes, please pray for the President that he too will fulfill his oath to the Constitution and that the true King of kings will prick his heart.

With Spring Comes...

With good weather almost here, there will be countless motorcyclists hitting the roads. Here are some things to keep in mind.

When you see us moving past you quickly:

Don't take offense or think we're trying to "show off". Ninety five percent of the time, we're trying to get out of your blind spot or taking ourselves out of a potential dangerous situation that has evolved around us. Distancing ourselves from you does not mean we want to race, but that we're giving ourselves the edge we need at the moment.

When you hear our horn:

Don't take offense or think we're trying to aggravate you. All we're doing is letting you know where we are in relation to you on the road, and we're more than likely aware of your inattentiveness to us while you're talking on a cell phone, eating, reading or involved in some other distracting aspect to your driving. It's important to us, and you, that you know we're there.

When you hear our loud pipes:

Don't become angry and hostile toward us. Yes, some are quite loud, but for some, there's a purpose behind being loud. It's about letting you know we're close by and we're constantly hoping that our investment in this accessory will help save our lives. Our pipes are really not about our ego...it's a pride and personalization to our form of transportation.

When you see us in our clothes:

Don't become fearful of us or think us weird. Our leather jackets, chaps, gloves and boots are the barriers between loosing massive amounts of flesh should something cause us to go down...nothing more, nothing less. Safety gear is paramount to our riding. We wear patches on our jackets, and pins on our vests. These are symbols of pride and honor within our group(s), individuals giving back to those who gave. These things bond us as a brotherhood and sisterhood among bikers. Not that we're better than anyone else, but that we have the same kind of nobility and pride in our accomplishments as you may have in the various aspects of your life. I guess one could say; our patches and pins are the decals and the bumper stickers of our involvement with society and the general public, of which we are very pleased to be a part of in our own little way.

When you see us in a restaurant:

You don't have to shield your child or feel intimidated. We have family, wives, husbands, children and loved ones too, just like you. We smile; we laugh and enjoy the moments we have. We are approachable, and could befriend you, if given the opportunity.

When you see us in a parking lot:

Don't convince yourself that we're there to "get you". More than likely, we just finished a long ride and are taking a break. Or, we may be meeting up with other riders for a charity run for young children, or another very worthy cause. We may just be admiring one another's bikes, sharing our pride with other brothers and sisters, just like you do with your personal vehicle. It's what we do...it's a part of our lives, and we'd be more than welcome to share with you what riding a bike is all about...if you'd only ask.

When you see aggressive riding bikers:

Don't put us all in the same stereotypical category as those whose behavior and actions would cause you to react in disgust and intolerance. Many of us do not agree with this style of riding either, and we know and understand that human nature tends to blend us all together as the "same group". Most of us don't want that title...and don't deserve it.

 When you see a group of bikers on the roadways:

Give us the courtesy of sharing the road with you. Please don't "move in" between several bikers in formation. This gets us very excited and nervous, especially when it's done with no due regard for our safety. Provide us with your awareness of the fact that we are much more vulnerable than you. We don't want to challenge you, for all of us are wise enough to know...we'd lose that battle.

When you are turning left or entering a roadway/highway:

Look, then look again...and then one more time. For we can be easily hidden, and appear to be invisible by such things as a telephone pole, another vehicle, bright lights or the glare of the sun...or possibly, the beads hanging from your rearview mirror, among numerous other items that are displayed there. If you see us flashing our lights at you or blowing our horn, we're only trying to ensure that you will see us before tragedy changes both our lives.

When you are behind us:

Please give us the room we need and don't tailgate us. If you hit us, we're going down...HARD! We don't want to play games with you, we just want to enjoy the ride and the fresh air, and experience that which many of you have never lived for. If we accelerate away from you, don't interpret this action as though we want to drag race you. We're only trying to take ourselves out of a bad situation if you insist on being too close.

When, and if, you experience road rage:

Don't take it out on us just because we're smaller than you and more vulnerable. Think about what you're doing and the end result that may become a reality. The consequences of your actions and choices could be very detrimental to our well being, our families, our children and our loved ones. Yes, there are those that can tend to piss you off, however, rage towards them will not solve the issues, but accentuate them. Nine out of ten bikers will do everything they can to take themselves out of that situation without causing you or them harm.

When you have an opportunity to talk to us:

You'll discover, outside any influenced or stereotypical mindset you may have, that we are just as human as you are, just with different interests and toys. Many of us would give you the shirt off our back if it would tend to brighten your day or console you in some way. We're really no different... and we drive cars, trucks and vans too. So, meet us and greet us...I think you'll be pleasantly surprised that you'll be met with open arms.

Thank You for attempting to understand!

The Sky Is Falling....Again

Well it’s just a few more hours and the United States as we know it will go up in flames as Firefighters, EMTs, and Police officers are sent home. Criminals will be released to rape, kill and basically raise havoc in our neighborhoods. Our defenders of peace, the military, will not get paid, causing the colapse of our nation. Children will be put out into the streets to starve. They will be refused an education, and, as if that isn’t horrible enough, they will have their cell phones turned off.

These and many many more fear evoking scenarios have been shouted from the rooftops for weeks. Problem is, it’s all lies. The ‘Sequester’ will do none of this. First, as a side note, Police, Fire, Emergency Medical, and Education are all local entities. Federal cuts should have nothing to do with them. It’s not the Feds job. But I digress, as that’s a rant for another day.

What the ‘Sequester’ will do is make Federal departments cut less than 2.5% of their projected spending. Not cut their spending, but cut the increased requested spending by less than two and a half cents on the dollar. To illustrate, let’s say a family has a budget of $1000.00 a month and decide they want to increase it to $1250.00. But then, due to income restrictions, (taxes went up, a raise didn’t go through, a washing machine went south, etc) they find that they have to trim 2.5% from the new budget. This means their budget is reduced to $1218.75. Is this going to force them into the streets? Is this going to cause them to starve? No, they will just reallocate what they have available.

Let me state here that I realize the above example is not a perfect one. The family spends their own money, and live within their means. Which is the total opposite of those elected officiqals on Capital Hill. But what I’m trying to point out is that there is no cut in spending. To put it another way, all these Federal bureaucracies will only receive 97.5% of their increased budget requests. If they can’t operate on that, then they have other issues. (Which goes without saying.)

Do I think the ‘Sequester’ is a great idea? No. Cutting 2.5 cents on the dollar from an increased budget that is already unrealistic is going to do nothing. It’s just a distraction, another ridiculous ‘compromise’ from a group of people who have forgotten (or never cared about) the oath to the Constitution and country they swore to uphold and defend. Both sides of the aisle should be held accountable for the lack of doing the job they were hired to do. They should be held accountable for the stupidity that is running amuck in our nation’s capital. But then again, we the people should be held accountable for re-electing them over and over and over again. (But that too, is a rant for another day.)

According to Encarta, ‘Sequester’ is defined as A) to put somebody in an isolated or lonely place away from other people, the pressures of everyday life, or possible disturbances; B) law to take legal possession of somebody's property temporarily until a debt that person owes is paid, a dispute is settled, or a court order is obeyed, and C) international law to demand or seize the property of an enemy.

 I'll let you decide for yourself which of the above definitions apply to our budget.