What is it that makes you jump?

Phobias, the scary, very real feeling we experience that can be terrifying, right? One definition takes it further: "an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something." We all have one or more whether we will admit it or not.  I know I have one to be sure, maybe two. Seeing a person wildly react to something that doesn't bother us, can be hilarious, I admit.

However, whenever I meet someone who has what many believe to be an irrational fear, I treat it as real, because no matter how bizarre it may appear to me - it is real to them and I try to empathize.

Now before you decide where I'm going with this and you are scared to death of clowns, snakes, and spiders that I plan to dangle in front of you because I'm mean, hang on and let me elaborate. Look at the title of this week's column. What makes you jump? What gets you going? What does it for you when nothing else will? What is your thrill fix?

Scary movies? Death defying stunts? Maximum horsepower with fat under-aired tires smoking rubber on asphalt and you without ear plugs so you can really feel the moment? How about a steaming plate of fajitas and onions that causes your jaws to ache as saliva is released? Maybe it's that beautiful woman you've been married to for (x-amount) of years that really makes your Webley tremble.

You are in control until that 14 point Boone & Crockett whitetail buck steps out into the open and provides you with that once in a lifetime side view shot and you raise your rifle or bow and let one fly! It is quite possible that none of these wonders are what make you jump.  Maybe it's a timely scriptural verse or one of the inspiration parables published each week in the Sun that really gets your shouting shoes tapping.

Jumping is good.  Jumping is what defines us. Every morning I hop out of bed and run to the coffee pot for my first jump. I want that blast of energy from caffeine. It is an amazing drug that enhances my day. My next jump is when I open the Drudge website followed by Google News, and then the Baytown Sun. I want to see what has happened in the world and in my city since I went to bed. It's like a cathartic drug to me.

Sure, irrational fears make us jump and exposing ourselves to them can be both detrimental and beneficial, but why indulge in them when there are so many other good jumps out there? Personally I think people mistake bucket list items as the only viable jump. Experiencing places and things have their place, but if we use them as the standard for a jump, we are setting the mark a bit too high for daily living.  I mean after all, daily living is what we do, right?

Why hobble ourselves with achievements that only come occasionally when we can get all jiggy over life's simple pleasures?  Speaking of simple pleasures, the other day I made a big pot of potato soup with bacon, butter, cheese, onions, and canned milk and then I made a big fat pan of sweet cornbread to go with it.  Holy cow! Boom! I jumped!

Every day of every week we are given the opportunity to make leaps forward. The trick is to seize the moment and not miss it. The other day I was near the VA off Holcombe Avenue exiting 288 and I needed to get in the far left number 1 lane.  I was in lane 3 and came to a halt in the heavy traffic, or I would miss my turn a hundred yards up the road. The fellow behind me didn't understand that I needed to wait and began blowing his horn in what was a very annoying manner. I sat and waited and when the rushing cars finally passed, I moved over and drove unrestricted at least a hundred yards to make my turn. He moved up three whole cars. I jumped and he didn't and I was so proud of myself for being a cool head. It was a victory for me and I loved the feeling I got for not responding.

So, jumping can be everything from responding to irrational fear to keeping a cool head when life throws you a curve and to be honest, all of them are learning experiences. Some are fun and some are not. One last jump I need to cover is the one I get by fulfilling my responsibilities. It is the most satisfying of all of them.

For the past month, I've adopted a new strategy that is possibly driving my bride crazy. Cradle to grave. Anything I can do to completion, I do. I do not procrastinate. A simple example is carrying a coffee cup to the kitchen and placing it on the counter. An hour later, I walk by and put it in the sink. That evening, I put it in the dish washer. Now I walk in and put it in the dish washer. Once again, I made a satisfactory jump and this time, in efficiency. Now, start jumping.

The New Stupid World Order

Is it just me or does it once again appear that the whole world is sinking into a state of chaos? From the simplest of tasks, like following the rules of the road to people dressing up like clowns and chasing people, the world has plainly gone nuts.

Just last week, within 3 days of each other I had  3 occasions where a car approached at a higher rate of speed than the neighborhood speed limit of 30mph, by coming over into my lane because their lane was blocked with cars – not mine. Common rules of the road dictate they wait as I pass, but no, they can’t wait. Their ignorance of the law and their impatience and entitlement would not let them. Not to mention, I perceived them to be idiotic and rude and that my friend is a dangerous combination.

A week or two before that, the same thing happened and I would not give up my lane. They were forced to slow down and were barely able to slip by my left side without a head-on collision. My speed was about 10mph and theirs was closer to 40mph, before they braked almost to a stop. My reaction was because it was happening with more frequency and my lifted Jeep would have climbed up and over the top of their racy little import sedan.

Prior to this, it was a rare occasion – just like clown sightings.

Now we have a couple of copycats, who are falling into the imbecilic and rude category and they showed up in Jenkins Park. Are people so stupid that they think something like wearing clown clothes and masks and chasing people is a good idea? I’m afraid that if I encounter one, I will hold them close to the ground with my foot on the side of their head until the cops arrive, fire ants and all.

I can see the headlines that would flash across the Internet:  “240 pound muscled, indoor cycling instructor, Vietnam Veteran, black belt man-handles Halloween-costumed unarmed teen boy in public park.  Charges being reviewed by a grand jury.”  Oh, you think that couldn’t happen in our new stupid world order?

We have people right here in this town that would go ballistic and want me lynched. “How dare someone discourage anyone from dressing like a clown in public?” they would cry. They would use social media because they consider themselves “progressives”. Geeze does this mean common sense should be ignored? Almost every cherished idea is under attack it seems. I am all for progress, it just has to come slowly, so we can feel out the repercussions and make reversals. Remember dropping the drinking age from 21 to 18?

In a society that requires law and order, we are turning into the Wild West, where anything we can get away with is the new rule. A society that takes more than it gives is doomed. I’ve said it so many times, but it needs repeating. When people put their agendas ahead of everyone and everything around them, there is going to be chaos. Speak up and “how dare you?” is screamed in your face.

I watched a goodly number of videos where marchers have attempted to block roads with their numbers and the drivers feel threatened enough to run people over. The crowd now screams foul and literally tries to kill the drivers. What? I’d drive over them too if I felt threatened. Heckfire, as far back as I can remember I knew better than to walk out on the road. Are they really that stupid? You walk in front of a moving car and you get what you deserve.

There are people posting videos of them driving around blowing train horns to scare people. Guess what? It is so loud it isn’t funny to anyone but the morons doing it. The so-called prank videos are the same.  They are not pranks by any stretch and hitting a stranger in the back with a ball bat is not a joke, it’s an attack. People racing through red lights so they don’t have to stop are not anything more than dangerous drivers breaking the law. They kill other people when it goes wrong and all you have to do to see an example is drive in Baytown.

It’s the stupid new world order of give it to me, its mine. I walk into the gym almost every day and as I do, I pick up energy drink cans and protein bar wrappers in the parking lot and put them in the trash can at the door. I shake my head every single time I do it too. The other day, someone threw a weighted rubber ball against the wall of the Group X room and caved in the sheet rock. They bugged out and didn’t say a word and I found it when I came in for Spin class. I guess they thought it would bounce back? More head shaking.

Sometimes I feel like a three-eyed man in the land of the blind, but I would wager that many of you reading this see it the same as I do. It’s enough to make you lose faith in mankind.

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Eschew violence, embrace peace, but keep your powder dry

I live in peace; a relative peace that is. I do not violate the law; well, I speed now and again, so in some ways I do not 100% follow the letter of law, but pretty much I do. I pay taxes, I stay in my own lane, I stop at stop signs and I do not have a police record. In fact I just completed the Baytown Citizen’s Police Academy and didn’t bore everyone with the details by writing about something my friend Natalie Whatley covered in detail.

Graduate class of the Baytown Citizens Police Academy. November 2015

I took my first karate lesson in 1972 and have never been in a “fist fight” since. I have been in many conflicts since, but I outsmarted my adversary by making myself to be a poor choice of a target and this is or should be the true aim of every martial artist. Now, as a senior citizen, I realize I am not as fast as I once was and have taken steps to legally carry a firearm.

I eschew violence and embrace peace, but am not ignorant, stupid, blind, or have this ridiculous idea that mankind is inherently good. When I see a person dressed as a clown, who looks like a clown, acts like a clown, is portraying what I believe to be a clown – I call them a clown and make no apology.

When the newspapers, Drudge Report, Google News and other news outlets continually warn me about extremist groups operating under the umbrella of religion, it is very difficult for me to separate myself from those who practice this dogma and claim it is a religion of peace. The reason I feel this way is the peaceful faction is totally quiet.  To me quiet equates to complicity. Why the news programs are not overran with stories of open condemnation of ISIS by American Muslims is confusing.

If any reasonably intelligent person cannot see that Europe is being invaded by Muslims so they can take over those countries, you are frankly deceived, ignorant, or plainly stupid. European tolerance has been used against them. Now, they are in panic mode.  The Islamic plan is one of conquest and it has nothing to do with serving God, as Christians understand God.

I have another observation and this one is not peaceful. This country was founded on rebellion and this country will not sit idly by and let this kind of terrorism go unnoticed and undefended.  It will swing violently against people who practice this false dogma and be a literal blood bath. Many innocent people, including women and children will suffer a horrible fate due to the constant edict of intolerance from the leaders who embrace spreading this religion.

Party girl suicide bomber
Hasna Ait Boulahcen

The Internet is chock full of YouTube recordings of Imams calling for the killing of infidels and I am not talking about the Middle East. I am talking about here in our country. The incredible influx of “refugees” entering Europe has swamped their resources.  Now, in desperation, they are admitting these people are migrating and 90% are men between the ages of 18 to 25.

The FBI currently is watching 900 Muslim extremists on our own soil.  900! This is 2 or 3 battalions of troops if they were assembled. How many more are secreted here in cells, we have no idea. How many RPG rockets would it take to be fired at one of our chemical plants before we realized we are at war?

Please, if you have your head in the sand, which I do not believe you do, recognize that it will happen here. If you want to be politically correct, that is fine. It is your right to believe what you want, but don’t ask me to bring my assault rifle to your house to protect you when everything goes south in your world. I’ll be busy defending my own home.

I am reminded of the Denver couple who was vehemently against guns and moved to Los Angeles. The first week the wife was mugged. Two weeks later they came home and all their possessions were gone. Two months later they were both carrying firearms.  It suddenly became real and all their lofty ideals of tolerance and world peace went out the same window as their possessions.

What happened in Paris can and will happen here; it’s simply a matter of time. We need to slam shut new immigration into this country right now. We need to aggressively examine those who are in this country illegally and round up any and all until we find a solution to this problem. Anything else is just a form of amnesty to crime. Viewing illegal’s as anything other than criminals has got us in this fix. If you have entered this country illegally, you ARE a criminal and I don’t care how many kids you have spawned after you got here.

You may not be a law-breaker in many ways and you may work hard and contribute to the American way of life, but face it – you broke the laws of the land to get here and you have stayed. I am all for letting people with Green Cards remain in this country. I am for it 100%, but everyone here illegally needs to come forward and I think most real Americans feel the same way.

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