Editor’s Note: Names were changed to protect the guilty.
When I was a child, I suffered the pains of being a fat kid living on a street a few houses down from the neighborhood bully. I don’t mind telling you that it sucked big time. For the sake of discussion, we’ll call him “Joe”.
Joe was a couple of years older than me and was the type of kid who could actually be pleasant sometimes, but he could turn on you in an instant. He was forever getting one of the other kids on the block (me included) to participate in activties that we knew we shouldn’t be doing, but because of his tendency to use physical violence on us, none of us refused very often.
I can’t tell you the number of times Joe beat me up, kicked me, or pushed me down. My best friend, Johnny, who had to wear braces on his legs for much of his childhood faired a little better, but even he was not immune to Joe’s outbursts. Joe was alot like Eddie Haskell, from Leave It To Beaver, in that he could put on a good show in front of our parents and at the same time constantly remind us to keep our mouths shut about any activities we had been up to with him.
One of his favorite things to do was to catch the white Persian cat owned by one of our neighbors and then put it in the backyard of another neighbor who owned a Saint Benard. The cat would take off running like lightening and the dog would give chase while barking loudly. The Saint Benard never caught the cat, but I think secretly Joe wanted to see what would happen if he did.
One day, I was sitting in the driveway working on my bike when Joe came up to me and said something I don’t remember and when I responded to him, it made him mad and he kicked me. What Joe didn’t know was that at that precise moment my father was in the carport working under the hood of the car and though Joe couldn’t see him, my father saw the whole exchange. I started crying and Joe left never knowing that my father saw what he did. I got up crying and headed inside and when I passed by my dad he stopped me and said, “Don’t you ever let him do that to you again.” He said it in an angry voice, but what confused me was that he was angry with me! He said, “Next time Joe starts something, you stand up for yourself and you finish it. Do you understand? Now dry your eyes and go back and finish fixing your bike.” Which I did, sniffeling all the way.
What I didn’t understand at the time was that my father planted a seed of self-respect at that moment. He told my mother about the event and she backed him up by telling me that I shouldn’t let Joe push me around like that. She also said that even though they had told me that fighting was wrong, that if Joe started something, it was ok to defend myself and that I would not get into trouble if I did.
It was actually a couple of weeks after that event when Joe along with his toady, Buddy, came into my yard and started messing with me again. I told them to leave me alone to which they replied predictably, “Why cry-baby? Because you’ll go tell your mommy?”
Joe then punched me in the chest and when I raised my arms to punch back, Buddy got behind me and held my arms while Joe started punching me in the stomach. And my mother saw it all through the living room window. She went to the front door and opened it quietly and stood in the doorway where I could see her out of the corner of my eye. Joe and Buddy were having too much fun to notice. She crossed her arms and stood there. I realized that she wasn’t coming to save me. I realized that she wasn’t going to break it up. But, I also remembered what they had told me: “If they start it, finish it.” And suddenly, I found myself reaching deep within and discovering my own backbone and I got mad. I got fighting mad. Buddy was still holding me back from behind, so I elbowed him in the stomach hard. He bent over to grab his stomach and let go of my arms. I started swinging. I connected with a wild swing and punched Joe in the ear. And, for about 2 seconds he was shocked into disbelief. No one, but no one had ever hit him back and he couldn’t believe it.
I didn’t give him or me time to think about it, my arms were like windmills. I punched Joe again and this time it pissed him off. He lunged at me and hit me in the nose. I didn’t even realize that it was bleeding, I just kept swinging. I hit Joe about three times before he rushed me again hitting me in the chest. I had about 50 pounds on Joe so I wrapped my arms around him, picked him up and threw him to the ground. He jumped back up and started boxing, jabbing and trying to throw a knock-out punch. Blood, sweat and tears were all mixing with the dirt on my face, and then I saw a little bit of red above Joe’s eye. He was hurt! I could fight back and Joe could be hurt!
We continued to fight and wrestle and though Joe was older and the better fighter, I had size and weight on my side. Buddy was long gone and nowhere to be seen. Occasionally I still saw my mother in the doorway, but mostly I don’t remember anything else being blind-angry at Joe. The fight probably only lasted a few minutes, but it seemed like hours and the effects of that fight have lasted my whole life. Just about the time I had beaten Joe down a huge shadow came over both of us and when I looked up, it was Joe’s father who had somehow learned about the fight and walked all the way from Joe’s house to ours (two blocks) to come and get Joe. And, he was angrier than either me or Joe.
He picked Joe up off the ground by the collar of his shirt and dragged him home scolding him all the way. I’d like to say I remember him beating Joe’s butt on the way home, but it could be wishful thinking on my part. I’ve often wondered if my mother actually called Joe’s father, but she never admitted doing it. I walked inside from the site of the battle crying, snuffling, bleeding, and hurting. My mother took me in, cleaned me up, doctored my wounds and told me she was proud of me. Then she cooked my favorite supper and when my father came home, he said he was proud of me too.
I learned some valuable lessons that day fighting with Joe:
- Bullies are not invincible. You just have to be willing to fight back.
- My parents were not going to step in and save me every time I got into trouble, but they loved me just the same.
- Win, lose or draw, it hurts less if you know you’ve given your best.
- Bullies survive on intimidation.
- When beaten down, bullies cry too.
With that story in mind, I had to laugh when The Washington Post reported “Lawmakers concerned as health-care overhaul foes resort to violence“:
The pitched battle over health care has unleashed a rash of vandalism and attacks directed at politicians, with at least 10 House Democrats reporting death threats or incidents of harassment or vandalism at their district offices over the past week.
More than 100 House Democrats met behind closed doors Wednesday afternoon with representatives of the FBI and the U.S. Capitol Police. The lawmakers voiced what one senior aide who was present described as “serious concern” about their security in Washington and in their home districts when they return this weekend for the spring recess.
Usually only the congressional leadership has regular personal protection from the Capitol Police. But at least 10 lawmakers have been offered increased protection by law enforcement agencies, said House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.).
Asked whether members are endangered, Hoyer said: “Yes. [There are] very serious incidents that have occurred.”
Before I comment on this, let me say that in no way have I seen or heard any Tea Party Member advocate violence against any lawmaker at any point in the past nor do I expect to hear that suggestion from any Tea Party Member in the future.
I would suggest to you that anybody who would do the things being reported by the Democrats in the House must be unbalanced individuals who are severely confused about how to go express their outrage in a legal, Constitutional way, ASSUMING that these “threats” are even real. Last weekend, the MSM delighted in reporting a story about House Members being verbally harassed with racial epithets and being spit upon by Tea Party Protesters. Unfortunately for the MSM, multiple videos exist of the moment and none of the videos support the claims. You can bet that if the videos DID support the charges, they would be in permanent loop on CNN and MSNBC.
But let’s assume for the moment that Democrat Leaders have actually received threats, or as Hoyer calls them “serious incidents”. I personally and publicly denounce the individuals who have made such threats, but I also think these guys have ignored the basic advice anyone should have learned on the playground. Jim Croce said it best when he sang:
“You don’t tug on Superman’s cape, you don’t spit in the wind, you don’t pull the mask off the ol’ Lone Ranger and you don’t mess around with Jim.”
You cannot expect to spit in the faces of millions of Americans and expect us to just roll over and play dead. We ain’t made that way. Our fundamental belief in personal responsibility makes us bristle when someone says, “We’re from the Government and we are here to help you.” Unlike those who expect the rest of the world to take care of them, Tea Party Members and everyday Americans don’t appreciate someone telling them what they must do in order to help those who won’t help themselves.
Allow us to be generous, but don’t bully us into being generous.
Congress thumbed their noses at the will of the people as clearly indicated by our visible and vocal protests. Obama’s approval numbers have continued to fall for almost a year. Some congress member’s poll numbers are now in single digits. What part of “No!” didn’t they understand? Apparently, none of that made any difference to them and they did what they wanted to do anyway, but now they want to whine the reaction to their actions. Just like when Joe was shocked that I actually fought back. They weren’t concerned about what we had to say when we called to demand they vote against this monster, but now they are crying and whining about being scared after they beat up and stepped all over all of us.
Seriously, if you are willing to ignore the majority of American voices and bully this bill through Congress, fine. Embrace it. Own It. Stand up for your opinion, but don’t go running to the press to cry about the reaction. Get some protection if you can’t protect yourself, but don’t whine about it, it makes you look weak and wimpy.
However, if we assume the threats didn’t actually occur, could it be possible that the Democratic Leadership really just wants someone to do something stupid, so the government can clamp down on dissent? Or, could this just be an effort to bully their opponents, like Tea Party members, into submission?
Regardless of their motivation, one thing is for sure, the Tea Parties aren’t going away and we damn sure ain’t gonna forget come November.
PS: Ironically, Joe grew up to be a doctor and if he is like most doctors we are probably now fighting on the same side. Go get ‘em, Joe! I happen to know you have a wicked left upper-cut.
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