Men Need To Man Up

Today was very trying to say the least. It started off nicely enough because I managed to rotate my sleep pattern to fit my off nights and I woke early for a nice Friday off. I checked the comments on my blog and enjoyed them. No Virus or Hacking attempts. That is always good. I then jumped on face book where my brother had towed the line of my blog and I had to spend a little while defending him from those who believe you must be a weakling if you believe in the bible. That was quite disgusting. Then I got my children up for school and my youngest missed the bus. According to her my string of curse words was a sign of me going “Psycho”. Well, Okay! The rest of my day went decent enough until time for my son to be taken to baseball practice. We get a flat tire in my oldest daughter’s car and pull into a Kangaroo. No problem, I change flats all the time at work on the side of the interstate with cars passing me at 80 MPH plus within 3 feet of me. Well, I find the little donut in Amber’s car, but there is no jack or tire tool. Great! A Good Samaritan will help right? My wife asks a man at the pump if he had a jack we could use. He tells her that his car was bought two days ago and he really did not want to look to find his jack. Well thank you half man! Another rejection for help and my son and I started off walking for home. I was seething inside thinking that is just how the world is these days that people are selfish and unwilling to help. My 13 year-old son said “Well, people are probably afraid to help others these days”. What would he know? He is only 13, as if he grew up 3 decades ago. But I said yes, you’re probably right. It didn’t help much I was still seething thinking of how wimpy we American’s have become. It isn’t a good idea to think on politics when your walking because you are broke down somewhere. But I kept thinking that men just don’t seem to be men anymore. Either they are selfish and too self concerned to lend a hand to help someone out or Isaac is right. It could just be fear. Fear over what? It wasn’t like it was midnight on the interstate. Brother that is just weak. The thought hit me that this is the reason we have to pay police officer’s to do the defending of other’s because there are just not enough courageous men out there that will intervene when trouble comes our way. Hell, even boy scouts walk old women across the street. Or at least they use to. Do they still do that anymore? I would rather think men were still men, but only preoccupied with there own problems to stop and help another without having to be paid to do so like I am. So on we went towards the house and on the way Isaac convinces me against my better judgment to take a short cut across this neighborhood to get to mine. He reassured me three times he knew the way. Wrong! I have never hiked so many paved hills in my life. I had been telling myself I needed to get in shape and exercise but right now was not the time. After we came upon a street we were on about 30 minutes before I realized we were back tracking. Yes, I almost had an aneurism when I found we had come full circle. Isaac was waiting on me to go “Psycho” as Abbie likes to say, but I kept the cursing to myself and my splendid luck. Finally, I called my wife and told her the embarrassing story of were we were not and suggested she walk home with Abbie. After another half hour of pulling hills with my fat butt in tow my wife called and said her friend Kelly Sawtell saw her and took her to get the other car. Anyway, once we were back to the car with a flat, my wife drove up with the car and we got the jack out. I started to remove the lugs but the tire tool did not fit the size of lugs on the car. I rubbed my hands through my sweaty hair in frustration when a man approached and offered his jack. It did not fit either, so he gave me a ratchet tool and we found the right size socket. I started using it and felt that it would break. I told him this and he assured me to try, that it didn’t matter if it broke. It broke! I felt bad and that was my last chance. The man said he was the Pastor of Helena United Methodist church and offered to call people in his congregation to see who could help. I declined the offer and thanked him for our imposing and his time trying to help. He was a nice gentleman and apparently unafraid to help. I don’t know, maybe Methodist are more manly than the Baptist and Catholics in the area? But anyway, this Methodist preacher was the only one willing to help and it meant a lot to me. I still think men today need to man up and grow some whether it is to help another or stand up for their country that is under siege or to protect at least their own families. I have no doubt the Methodist preacher would. So this was my day and enough of my bad attitude and a poor Friday. Let the storms roll on that are coming. At least my family and friends are safe tonight. Thank God for that! 

Haiti

Wow! What an example of how everything we have or own can be removed in one swift moment in time without any control over our fate. The numbers keep fluctuating on the count of projected loss of life. No one is quite sure of the total number of dead at the time but no doubt it is rising by the thousands. People speculating on why such natural disasters occur and why they occur and where they occur. I do not know. Pat Robertson believes it is God’s judgment on the land due to their belief in witchcraft and Voodoo mixed into Christianity. There are clearly biblical examples of this such as the great flood and other events of famine etc. I know he is being torn asunder by the network commentators from the far left to the far right. I don’t know the true reason for such horrific things. Anyone’s guess really is as good as another because we don’t know the mysteries God keeps hidden from us. I suppose the reason for such mysteries is simply because our brains would be unable to comprehend them. We are only human. What I prefer to focus on is the Good Samaritan that reaches out to help his neighbor after such an event of catastrophic proportions as the Haiti earthquake. The news crews do a decent job of showing the hands on acts of love by those volunteers at Ground Zero. Our President is immediately criticized for his immediate response to act on this amazing crisis of humanity in need. Why? Sometimes events occur that require politics to move out of the way, sit down and shut up. There are still people who are fighting for every breath as they lay trapped under slabs of concrete and twisted metal as they breathe and pray for help. Sometimes those of us who oppose President Obama need to lighten up and let him do his job. Especially when there are people in dire need of rescue and basic life needs. This is one of those times. Does this mean I agree with every aspect of how Obama is responding to this crisis and all of his decisions? No, absolutely not. But what I am very familiar with is that when you are in situations where life hangs in the balance there should never be obstacles in the way to prevent help or the acquisition of desperately needed resources. I just could not imagine being the lead decision maker in a crisis so large involving millions of lives. I could sit back and blog my disgust with the politics of Haiti and their government while I sit comfortably in my heated office sipping a Cherry Coke ”Which I am” but playing  arm chair Quarterback on the situation does no good at all and it surely isn’t helping. I could also cringe at the 100 million dollars allotted for the rescue efforts but that is rather silly isn’t it when fellow human beings are in such dire straights. No, I’m proud that our country and our president is fast to act while so many need us. Will this help be remembered or appreciated? Does that really matter? No, I believe what is clear is that the United States of America has stood high above all other countries when it comes to being there to help. Not only the government of the U.S. but also its private citizen’s who give freely of their own money to support efforts to help. Private business and corporations donate by the millions of their profit to assist the immediate needs. To try to make a comparison of the United States benevolent efforts to other countries would be pointless. Leaders of many countries love to describe our nation as the Great Satan. It is times as these when our actions defend against the accusations of such leader’s petty and meaningless words.

I Just Can't Shake The Depression

I just can’t shake the depression.

I woke up Sunday evening to ready myself for work and passed a few minutes on the internet to catch up on the news when I was shocked (Why, I don’t know?) to read about the Lakewood Police Officer’s Massacre. Details were brief and sketchy but enough to be crystal clear on what happened, and future events would prove my suspicions were true.

These four police officers were assassinated in the most cowardly way for one reason and one reason only. Because they were all wearing the most recognized uniform of all, the blue uniform of an American police officer.

 You see, this uniform represents the symbol of safety, courage, and trust. The man or woman who dons this uniform is simply the physical embodiment of the will of the people in flesh and blood standing on the thin blue line that protects the civil law abiding citizen’s from the chaos and carnage of the dangerous and lawless.

This horrendous criminal thug formulated a plan in his mind to murder as many police officers as possible in the most yellow bellied and cowardly way by sneaking into a coffee shop pretending to be a customer and systematically shooting to death those officers as they quietly worked unaware of his murderous intentions. He found the opportunity he was looking for that offered him the least chance of being injured himself and he carried out his plan.

This thug creature did not see individual human beings. All he saw was the uniform that represented the only people who ever dared to stand up to him and bring him to justice for the crimes he committed against the innocent and defenseless he chose to torment for his own greed and gratification. He wanted to make them pay for his incarceration and interference of his criminal deeds. What he felt was an injustice against him merely for being brought to justice time and again. And somebody had to pay!

I went on to roll call and read the Lakewood Massacre story to my men. We discussed many possibilities of what happened yet we all came to the same conclusion that it had to simply be an assassination of the officers in cold blood. Not because of whom they are or what they had done, but because of the uniform they wore and what it represented.

Since then my thoughts keep wandering back to them, their children, and their families at home and at work. The pictures of the officers are the hardest part to take because they look familiar. Each officer in their picture looks familiar to me. They all looked happy, brave, and proud in their photos and the reality finally dawned on me. They represent all police officers in their familiarity in a way only other police officers, their families and friends can see. They are just everyday people trying to make a living in the world. Trying to leave a mark on this earth of doing good for others while we are here. They were just being that man or woman willing to risk everything to stand between the innocent and the criminal to see to the safety and well being of that innocent stranger.

They were the Good Samaritan who did not turn their heads and avert their eyes to the act of crime against a stranger, but instead defended or helped him when others could not or would not help.

I do know these officer’s that died in the coffee shop Sunday. I work side by side with them in my town. Just real people that also feel pain and bleed when hurt. Real people that have goals and look forward to raising their children and dreaming of grandchildren like other people. They were real everyday people that wish for peace and a safe community in which to live.

Only they died at the hands of a merciless coward while trying to make it all possible.

I just can’t shake the depression.