Ancient Philosophers have been quoted as saying "the measure of a man can be made by the strength of his enemies". I personally think this is a load of crap. It sounds great as a splash screen in an adventure movie. Like Nietzsche's "That which does not kill us, only makes us stronger!" At the beginning of "Conan The Barbarian".
But any fool can amass enemies. A better measure would be "the strength of his friends."
An even better measure, would be "the strength of his fears."
I wasn't personally affected by the release of the book or the movie "Jaws". I am a PADI certified scuba diver. And have been since 1973. And I grew up near the coast of North Carolina, and had seen 100's of live sharks. Both in and out of the water. But many people were:
The novel "JAWS"
Jaws was published in 1974 and became a great success, staying on the bestseller list for some 44 weeks. Steven Spielberg has said that he initially found many of the characters unsympathetic and wanted the shark to win. Book critics such as Michael Rogers of Rolling Stone Magazine shared the sentiment but the book struck a chord with readers.
The movie JAWS:
Jaws is regarded as a watershed film in motion picture history, the father of the summer blockbuster movie and one of the first "high concept" films. Due to the film's success in advance screenings, studio executives decided to distribute it in a much wider release than ever before. Not only did it set a motion picture history precedent. It literally scared people out of the water. Due in part to the fantastic creativity of Peter Benchley and Steven Spielberg.
For years everyone thought, including myself, that this was simply a product of Mr. Benchley's imagination. But if you watched "shark week" on the Discovery Channel this week, you would have learned that the entire incident in the movie actually took place in real life at the coast of New Jersey in July 1916.
During a 12 day span in that month, a shark killed several people at the beaches of a small coastal town. The shark also made a two-mile trip up a freshwater Creek where eyewitnesses watched it devour three humans. It was the first time in American history when multiple shark attacks were reported. Shortly after the killing spree a local taxidermist managed to catch an 8 foot juvenile Great White (Carcharodon carcharias, also known as white pointer, white shark, or white death, is an exceptionally large lamniform shark found in coastal surface waters in all major oceans. Reaching lengths of more than 20 ft and weighing up to 4,938 lb) and found human remains in its stomach.
I have always enjoyed movies that affected me emotionally i.e. thrillers, horror, science fiction and monster movies in general. I have enjoyed them for as long as I can remember. But I have never had a problem separating reality from fantasy. And although the Jaws movie made me jump in my seat more than one time. It, did not follow me out of the theater! It was after all a figment of someone's imagination. Or so I thought until shark week, 2009. But the fear of having my limbs ripped off, and eaten by the king of the Marine food chain still holds no particular interest to me.
I have had two deep-seated fears in my life. And neither of them came about because of a movie experience. My first fear, dawned on me during the incident I related in my earlier story where I told you about my accident with a machete.
While wearing a cast from my hip to my ankle, and having been told by a doctor I might never run again (something I did every day as a youth just for the sheer delight of feeling the breeze in my face). The horror that crept into my young mind, and has haunted me ever since was the fear of being confined to a wheelchair for life. I can't explain why! I get sick to my stomach just thinking about it.
My second greatest fear is just as far-reaching and far-fetched as the first. It came about after a dream I had at around age 20 in which I had been confined in an asylum, Involuntarily! The more I protested my sanity, the crazier I sounded and acted. Which led to only more severe confinement measures by the staff. What really got to me was the fact that I was aware my protests were going to escalate my confinement, and I still could not shut my mouth.
I've had a similar dream two more times in my life since the first one. And both times I awoke in a cold sweat shaking uncontrollably. I have no idea what spurred the dreams. But, one time when I was in the Navy while on duty I was escorting a shipmate, who had made a suicide threat, to the psychiatric hospital for observation. When we arrived at the door, I couldn't make myself walk into the facility. I froze solid with sheer panic. I wanted to run away, but I could not move. Nothing like that had never happened to me before or since. And I have collected combat pay during my military service. I tell you this, in hope of alleviating these fears and trying to put them into perspective. Thank you for your indulgence, and please stay tuned for the further adventures of my life!
KW
AMERICA
ONE NATION UNDER GOD!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
How I got here...
My life before the US Navy and my personal battle with Leukemia and the side effects of chemotherapy...
I was born and raised by a career Marine and his registered nurse wife. We lived in Jacksonville North Carolina. Were I was raised and steeped in the traditions of the old South. American by birth, Southern by the grace of God. A place where gentlemen are born and not made by an act of Congress! Where big Brothers not only defend and fight in place of their siblings out of love but also out of duty. It's what was expected. People put Southerners down as being backward. But the world would be a much better place if there were more big brothers out there. There would be no workplace sexual harassment for fear of having your face caved in by an overzealous brother who had nothing better to do that day.
Before my 16th birthday I had survived several life-changing and life-threatening incidents. I survived them all but was either scarred physically or mentally by each and every one of them.
At age 8, I was run down by a speeding car while riding my bicycle across four lanes of traffic. My first concussion and experience with road rash. No broken bones and only a very short hospital visit. Age 12, I almost amputated my left leg by accidentally swinging a machete at a pine tree. The blade glanced off the tree and down into my left leg just below the knee. Another short visit to the hospital and into the orthopedic surgery unit. A couple dozen stitches and a few tendons reattached and six months in a full leg cast from hip to ankle. Doctors prognosis "you'll be lucky if you regain 40% motion in that leg. But you should still be able to walk". Later in life I played high school sports, football, baseball, basketball, wrestling track and field, so I never really let it slow me down. I figured the doctors opinion was only an opinion and not a proclamation of how I must live. So of course when I accidentally hanged myself at age 14 I almost turned the Doctor's prognosis into a self-fulfilling prophecy. And then a month and a half before my 16th birthday, while goofing off with illegal fireworks I accidentally (there's that word again) shot myself in the eye with a bottle rocket. That one landed me in the hospital for two weeks. But when it was over I had completely regained my sight. Then during my junior year in high school, I guess I was 16 by that time so this one doesn't fit with the others, I got a pretty serious scrape on my left hand that got infected during a varsity football game. Nine days in the hospital hooked up to IV antibiotics. I returned to practice with the football team on the 10th day and played in the next varsity game two days after that. Although I was not bulletproof, it seemed that I was invincible.
And if I had accepted what Doctors told me about my future, every-time I was in the hospital, I would have left this world long ago.
Truth be known, I faced my mortality many times in my early youth and was quite familiar with the warrior's heart and the survivor spirit God had placed in me. But it was much later in life before I acknowledged God as my Savior. He is still my Savior and in my weakness he makes me stronger. I owe him everything that I am and ever will be. And I dedicate my life to telling others about the good news of God's great love and salvation. A gift that he freely gives and asks nothing in return. It's really that simple.
And now for the rest of the story:
I got married late in life (age 30) to my best friend in the world. She has stuck by me through thick and thin. She knows all of my secrets and loves me anyway. We have two grown children that live nearby. My son is 23 and my daughter is 20. There are pictures of them on my pictures page on classmates. I never really thought about having children, I was too much of a kid myself. But after the first one I couldn't imagine life without him and couldn't wait to have another. I wouldn't trade the world for either of them. And I wouldn't change a single thing about them. I love them and am very proud of what they have grown up to be. I remember when my boy left home to go to college. I was lost and heartbroken. He went to the University of California at San Diego UCSD. He is the single smartest person I have ever known. It was every bit of 25 miles away from our front door. But to look at me, you would have thought he moved to China. I was almost as much of a wreck when my daughter went to San Diego Christian College, about 12 miles away. She hates it when I call her "my little girl", but I can't shake the memories of that little girl calling for her daddy! I tell her "I can't help it" and to "get over it". She sighs at me but I think she understands or at least doesn't grumble about it so much anymore. The cancer story next time! Be BLESSED...
I was born and raised by a career Marine and his registered nurse wife. We lived in Jacksonville North Carolina. Were I was raised and steeped in the traditions of the old South. American by birth, Southern by the grace of God. A place where gentlemen are born and not made by an act of Congress! Where big Brothers not only defend and fight in place of their siblings out of love but also out of duty. It's what was expected. People put Southerners down as being backward. But the world would be a much better place if there were more big brothers out there. There would be no workplace sexual harassment for fear of having your face caved in by an overzealous brother who had nothing better to do that day.
Before my 16th birthday I had survived several life-changing and life-threatening incidents. I survived them all but was either scarred physically or mentally by each and every one of them.
At age 8, I was run down by a speeding car while riding my bicycle across four lanes of traffic. My first concussion and experience with road rash. No broken bones and only a very short hospital visit. Age 12, I almost amputated my left leg by accidentally swinging a machete at a pine tree. The blade glanced off the tree and down into my left leg just below the knee. Another short visit to the hospital and into the orthopedic surgery unit. A couple dozen stitches and a few tendons reattached and six months in a full leg cast from hip to ankle. Doctors prognosis "you'll be lucky if you regain 40% motion in that leg. But you should still be able to walk". Later in life I played high school sports, football, baseball, basketball, wrestling track and field, so I never really let it slow me down. I figured the doctors opinion was only an opinion and not a proclamation of how I must live. So of course when I accidentally hanged myself at age 14 I almost turned the Doctor's prognosis into a self-fulfilling prophecy. And then a month and a half before my 16th birthday, while goofing off with illegal fireworks I accidentally (there's that word again) shot myself in the eye with a bottle rocket. That one landed me in the hospital for two weeks. But when it was over I had completely regained my sight. Then during my junior year in high school, I guess I was 16 by that time so this one doesn't fit with the others, I got a pretty serious scrape on my left hand that got infected during a varsity football game. Nine days in the hospital hooked up to IV antibiotics. I returned to practice with the football team on the 10th day and played in the next varsity game two days after that. Although I was not bulletproof, it seemed that I was invincible.
And if I had accepted what Doctors told me about my future, every-time I was in the hospital, I would have left this world long ago.
Truth be known, I faced my mortality many times in my early youth and was quite familiar with the warrior's heart and the survivor spirit God had placed in me. But it was much later in life before I acknowledged God as my Savior. He is still my Savior and in my weakness he makes me stronger. I owe him everything that I am and ever will be. And I dedicate my life to telling others about the good news of God's great love and salvation. A gift that he freely gives and asks nothing in return. It's really that simple.
And now for the rest of the story:
I got married late in life (age 30) to my best friend in the world. She has stuck by me through thick and thin. She knows all of my secrets and loves me anyway. We have two grown children that live nearby. My son is 23 and my daughter is 20. There are pictures of them on my pictures page on classmates. I never really thought about having children, I was too much of a kid myself. But after the first one I couldn't imagine life without him and couldn't wait to have another. I wouldn't trade the world for either of them. And I wouldn't change a single thing about them. I love them and am very proud of what they have grown up to be. I remember when my boy left home to go to college. I was lost and heartbroken. He went to the University of California at San Diego UCSD. He is the single smartest person I have ever known. It was every bit of 25 miles away from our front door. But to look at me, you would have thought he moved to China. I was almost as much of a wreck when my daughter went to San Diego Christian College, about 12 miles away. She hates it when I call her "my little girl", but I can't shake the memories of that little girl calling for her daddy! I tell her "I can't help it" and to "get over it". She sighs at me but I think she understands or at least doesn't grumble about it so much anymore. The cancer story next time! Be BLESSED...
Monday, August 3, 2009
IT'S SHARK WEEK...
SHARK WEEK on the Discovery Channel is one of the best information sources about this Apex Predator, anywhere in this world. They are remarkable, intelligent animals. And like all of God's creations, they are a necessary part of their oceanic ecosystem.
If you are the squeamish type or are already afraid to go in the water, then; Due to graphic scenes of predation and the aftermath of humans attacked I recommend, maybe you should watch the Oxygen Channel or Sesame Street instead.
It is the plain, simple truth about the natural world. The world we live in is not a lovie dovie hug you favorite spotted owl, lets all hold hands and sing, kind of place. You cannot anthropomorphize the world we live in and still comprehend how it works.
In nature there is no "evil", or "cruelty." Animals are not "poor" or "vicious." There is only survival and procreation. But, truth be known, Sharks have far more to fear from mankind, than mankind has to fear from sharks. The estimate by conservation scientists is that in 2008 mankind killed 250,000 sharks each day for the entire year. Most of them were victms of a practice known as "FINNING". The live sharks are dragged aboard ship, their fins and tails are cut off for sale to make "shark-fin soup" in restaurants world wide. Then the still living animals are dropped back into the sea to drown. If evolution is true (I don't believe that it is) then mankind has not descended as far as some may think.
Anyway; please Enjoy nature as it really is and watch SHARK WEEK.
this is an unpaid personal endorsement.
If you are the squeamish type or are already afraid to go in the water, then; Due to graphic scenes of predation and the aftermath of humans attacked I recommend, maybe you should watch the Oxygen Channel or Sesame Street instead.
It is the plain, simple truth about the natural world. The world we live in is not a lovie dovie hug you favorite spotted owl, lets all hold hands and sing, kind of place. You cannot anthropomorphize the world we live in and still comprehend how it works.
In nature there is no "evil", or "cruelty." Animals are not "poor" or "vicious." There is only survival and procreation. But, truth be known, Sharks have far more to fear from mankind, than mankind has to fear from sharks. The estimate by conservation scientists is that in 2008 mankind killed 250,000 sharks each day for the entire year. Most of them were victms of a practice known as "FINNING". The live sharks are dragged aboard ship, their fins and tails are cut off for sale to make "shark-fin soup" in restaurants world wide. Then the still living animals are dropped back into the sea to drown. If evolution is true (I don't believe that it is) then mankind has not descended as far as some may think.
Anyway; please Enjoy nature as it really is and watch SHARK WEEK.
this is an unpaid personal endorsement.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
SOMETIMES I DON'T (For my Sister AmyK)...
Everyday in America, Motorcycle enthusiasts are needlessly killed by Drivers who recite the aggravating cliche' "I never saw the motorcycle." I for one am getting tied of it. If you are a biker and this gets to you; find a blood-sucking lawyer and bleed those jerks dry! Call the Law-Tigers.
You owe it to your family, and all of us will benefit when cagers find out that it ain't ok to kill bikers in the US anymore. For you automobile enthusiasts; watchout for the stealth motorcycles. The life you save could be your preacher!
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Sometimes I feel like Telling a Joke...
This story involves two phone calls.
Phone call #1:
"This is the 911 emergency operator. How may I help you?"
A male voice responds. "my name is Johnny and I want to report a crime."
The operator says "Thank you sir, go ahead."
Johnny responds. "A neighbor of mine, Josh Billingsley, has found a way to hide marijuana and cocaine inside the pile of wood stacked up behind his garage."
The operator says "Do you mean he has drugs stashed under a woodpile?"
Johnny yells. "No! He hid the dope inside the logs."
"Inside the logs? Are you sure?" Asked the operator.
Johnny replies "Yes I'm sure. I saw it there with my own eyes" Johnny replied.
The operator asks Johnny for the address information on the Billingsley home, and after he gets it from Johnny, they hang up and call is ended.
Phone call #2:
The phone in a private residence rings.
The homeowner answers on the third ring and states, "Hello, Billingsley residence; Josh speaking. May I help you please?"
A male voice responds "Hey Josh this is your cousin Johnny. How are you doing buddy? Are you enjoying your Birthday?"
Josh says, "Yeah, it's been okay.. What can I do for you cousin?"
Johnny says "Did the cops visit your house today?"
"They sure did" Josh said suspeciously, "how did you know?"
Johnny asks "Did they chop up that firewood piled up behind your garage?"
A very puzzled Josh says "They sure did. How in the hell did you..."
And just before he slams the phone down, Johnny yells " Happy Birthday cousin."
Phone call #1:
"This is the 911 emergency operator. How may I help you?"
A male voice responds. "my name is Johnny and I want to report a crime."
The operator says "Thank you sir, go ahead."
Johnny responds. "A neighbor of mine, Josh Billingsley, has found a way to hide marijuana and cocaine inside the pile of wood stacked up behind his garage."
The operator says "Do you mean he has drugs stashed under a woodpile?"
Johnny yells. "No! He hid the dope inside the logs."
"Inside the logs? Are you sure?" Asked the operator.
Johnny replies "Yes I'm sure. I saw it there with my own eyes" Johnny replied.
The operator asks Johnny for the address information on the Billingsley home, and after he gets it from Johnny, they hang up and call is ended.
Phone call #2:
The phone in a private residence rings.
The homeowner answers on the third ring and states, "Hello, Billingsley residence; Josh speaking. May I help you please?"
A male voice responds "Hey Josh this is your cousin Johnny. How are you doing buddy? Are you enjoying your Birthday?"
Josh says, "Yeah, it's been okay.. What can I do for you cousin?"
Johnny says "Did the cops visit your house today?"
"They sure did" Josh said suspeciously, "how did you know?"
Johnny asks "Did they chop up that firewood piled up behind your garage?"
A very puzzled Josh says "They sure did. How in the hell did you..."
And just before he slams the phone down, Johnny yells " Happy Birthday cousin."
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