> flies respond better to > honey than vinegar. And idiots choke on their own bile and vinegar in time. Were there a hell (not to get into religious beliefs...) I am certain there would be a special place for folks who abuse their presumed authority, and power to ruin the lives of others. Meantime, my objective was to not go through life with memories of me taking it on the chin from some idiot. The side-benefit is others have to go through their miserable lives knowing that at least one person stood up to them.
This past weekend I actually did some reflecting on where the root was in my attitude re: those who are abusive. Then it struck me. Back in 1967-1968, after my father came back from Viet Nam (Battalion Surgeon, 1st Cavalry), we went to Hawaii for his last duty station for 2 years. My younger brother and I looked forward to the adventure, and wanted to learn to surf, snorkel and high dive. Just about 3 months before we moved my father received a letter from the person who was going to be our "sponsor". He told of how the local Hawaiian boys would roam in gangs in school looking for "fresh prey" (kids from the various military bases), and beat them up, mercilessly. My father enrolled Bob and I in a Judo class, and we got a real strong crash course. That summer while on base on Hawaii we met some other kids who had been out there for at least one year, and we shared various fighting techniques with each other (a mix of Judo, karate, kung fu, etc.). One of the kids, older and more experienced than the rest of us (and a hell of a nice guy at that), told us the secret to not having to fight all the gang members at once as they came at us. He said that not if, but when, we were being boxed in by a gang, the best thing to do was go for the leader of the gang and "Fight him with all you've got. Keep coming after him, he is your target." He said the other kids would back off once they saw their leader getting some shit kicked back on him, and from then on they would seek easier targets. He also said it would be the scariest thing we ever did (he was right), but the alternative was to always get picked on and beat up - regardless of how well we could defend ourselves for a few moments. He said there would always be too many to beat them all, we would get bloodied, but the idea was to make it clear that we would not go down without a real scrap, and that the leader was intentionally our primary target. Over time I found that these "leaders" are really cowards hiding behind their followers, and will indeed let the followers do the dirty work. Some things in life never change, eh? In retrospect it is nothing more than basic military strategy. But I was just a 13 year old kid back then, and knew nothing of all that. But, I took this older kid's counsel to heart, and did exactly what he said. I got into 2 major "battles" within the first 2 weeks of the new school year (8th grade), got bloodied a bit, but in both cases I went for the biggest kid in the gang (usually they roamed in groups of 4 to 7 kids), and gave him all I had in me - there was no such thing as fighting dirty or clean. I was in it for self-preservation and to make a clear point. Several months later, the 3rd time a gang was roving in my direction, the "leader" sent a punk wanna-be tough guy to launch the attack on me. That poor bastard came at me as though he had an army behind him (he didn't, his fellow gang members all hung back). I tore into him without restraint, and this time not a drop of my own blood was shed, but that poor bastard got the shit beat and kicked out of him, literally. Not one of his friends came to his rescue as I pounded him to near unconsciousness. I decided to be ease up and not try to break any of his limbs, although I really wanted to. When I thought he had enough, and would not try anything else with me, I walked back away from the scene and mixed in with the crowd as I knew some teachers would be coming soon. I never got picked on by any Hawaiian kids after that, they never made a play at me that year or the year after. Some kids from on base did twice after that, however. One ended up getting the inside of his mouth all cut up when I nailed him with a perfectly executed round-house kick to his head & mouth with his nice, new braces. He had been picking a fight with my brother, and managed to get Bob on the ground and started to bang his head on the ground. I told the ass-hole to knock it off. He did not listen to my spoken word, but he did respond quickly to my fast traveling foot <g>, and his 3 friends backed away to a safe distance. They never screwed with me or my brother again. I still do not know what they hell they did that for, we were not trouble makers. Another time a kid who had studied karate for a little while wanted to beef with me, but I saw no point in it. His father was rough on him, but that was not my doing. we had been friends at one time, in fact. I had no axe to grind with him. He encouraged some other poor bastard to fight me under the false pretense that I said some nasty shit about him and his family. Poor old Freddy Medina, he would not listen to me when I told him that his good friend Mike Bacharich was setting him up because he was too cowardly to fight me himself. Freddy came at me after school one day, and within a minute it was all but lights out for him. I got dragged into the Principal's office that time, and I refused to say anything without one of my parents present. Apparently Freddy said nothing also, to his credit he never ratted me out - although he was certainly not able to hide the fact he had been beaten up pretty badly. I never got suspended, and I never saw Mike or Freddy within many yards of me since then at school. That was my last fight in Hawaii, and one of my last fights since then. So, in later years, as back then, I was well aware that I was not the toughest or best fighter in the area - never wanted to be, it is not my nature. Not by a long shot. But nobody fucked with me either, as I may not win a fight, but I sure wasn't going to let anyone get the better of me without losing some blood in the process. There were easier targets to pick on than me. And I suppose after a long look back as to why I am the way I am now, it all makes sense in a strange way. I don't let anyone bully me. Some folks may be wealthier and more powerful than me in absolute terms. But I am in a position where I can't get hurt easily - and I simply refuse to take shit off anyone. Oh, the memories... Gil > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Kristyne McDaniel > Sent: Monday, May 12, 2008 6:47 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: [NF] Contract not renewed. > > > Ricardo, > > > And if you get any complaint from them you just > > say that people screaming at you get you nuts and that you > > just "loose it". They won't go against their own excuse ;c) > > Back then I wasn't gutsy enough to do something so in your > face... But what > did happen is I turned while, started to shake, and went home. Over the 4 > years that I had my contract with that company, the president of > the company > yelled and screamed at me a number of times. He also had a habit > of angrily > firing people from time to time, so everyone was on edge pretty > much all the > time. The guy was also paying a price for it because he periodically has > "tummy days" where he is out because his stomach flares up and he doubles > over. I would not be at all surprised to hear that he suddenly > has a stroke > and drops dead. He's really bad when he gets going. > > The last time I was in a meeting with him and he was screaming at me, a > strange impulse came over me, and I started to laugh while he screamed. > > I don't think that went over too well. > > Later on at that same company my contract was canceled and the excuse that > was used was that I was not being 'nice' enough. I got a letter from the > tantrum thrower himself that I should learn that flies respond better to > honey than vinegar. > > What a crock. > > Kristyne > > > [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
