Bravery?

This is something I've thought about often through the years as I watched or read another story on the news about some gang or the other raising hell out in our country. Usually it's a story about a bunch of punks running around shooting guns, killing each other or killing innocent bystanders, who had nothing to do with it.

To make my thoughts clear on this subject, I would have to go back to when I was a teenager in high school. Back then, when someone had a problem with or just didn't like someone else, they would "call out" the other person to a fight, usually after school at some agreed upon location. After all the details of the fight were worked out, the rumor mill started and before the end of the day, half the school knew there was going to be fight and everyone that could, tried their best to show up to watch.

Here's how it would come out for everyone. The two combatants would come together and all the people who came to watch would form a huge circle completely surrounding them. The two fighters would approach each other face to face, take a good stance, put up their fists, dance around for a while and the whole thing would start as soon as one or the other thru the first punch. At that point, the whole crowd of onlookers would be yelling and screaming for one or the other.

Now lets get some very important things straight here. There were some plain as day, completely understood, unwritten rules involved in this whole planned affair. Fairness was everything. Only straight ahead fists were allowed. No kicking (this was before Karate), no hair pulling, no use of sticks, rocks, knives or ANY thing other than fists. The ONLY brave and honorable thing was to stand there face to face using only your fists to pound the opponent into submission. I have to proudly add here that if anyone did pick up a stick or anything, the whole crowd would not only start yelling, they would grab the stick and you and put a stop to the whole thing right then. Now the second the other guy fell to the ground, honorable people would stop and let the other person back up before continuing. The second one or the other gives up or says "I give" or lets it be known by one and all that they want to quit. IT'S A DONE DEAL! Game over, everyone walks away and the whole thing is finished.

The whole point of my little story here is back then these things were handled in a civilized and honorable way with both sides showing respect and bravery to each other. The purpose was not to kill or maim your opponent, it was just to prove you were brave and perhaps worthy of being a "man", in those times.

Now back to those punks in the news shooting each other and anyone else who get in there way. I'm announcing right now, right out loud and clear that all those punks are god damn chicken shits. They are like little baby pigs, pretending to be adults. They are too chicken shit to stand face to face with anyone. They sneak around shooting from moving cars or hide behind something to make their kill. They have no real guts at all. In fact, they are the scum of the earth and should be shot on sight by our law enforcement, who we have given the right to wipe out human infections.

Somehow we lost sight of what bravery, honor, respect and personal responsibility means in this new society we find ourselves in. I wonder if it's possible to somehow get that back in our children's realities before it's too late.

What do you think about all this? How do you define bravery, honor and respect? Is there a way you can think of to reach the youth with these truths and create change?



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Come on.......DO IT!