"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" lloydspinsidemindspring.com on Sat, 17 May
2014 19:21:50 -0500 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:
Butch Hatfield fired this volley in
:

There was a time in this country when most men would have acted just
like I did. When I was kid the adult men were all WWII vets and those
guys put up with no ****. Consequently we had little crime in our
neighborhood. A lot of fist fights but little crime. In that exact
same neighborhood we now have the opposite. No fist fights but a ****
load of bull**** crime and good men that do nothing. They have all the
excuses down about having kids, fearing lawsuits and guns but all this
is simply caving into cowardice.


Amen! Of the fifty or so kids my age in high school, only TWO ever got
in trouble. One for running 'shine', and another for beating up his mom.

Well, the first one is covered under the general rubric of
"apprentice ship" but the other one - nope, no how.

We had LOTs of fistfights (which often the PhysEd coach refereed, and
nobody went on detention, they just got a little beat up!), and almost NO
violent crimes -- not just among the teens, but in the whole community.

Do tell, I remember a couple where both were storming out of the
building heading for the far side of the parking lot to get "off
campus".

And I figure the ex-high school wrestlers were on their own when
they went at it, waiting for the Base Commissary to open. Now, Mr
Alvarez didn't take kindly to it, and they didn't work that day. But
that was all.

Everybody says now, "Don't get involved." Hell! I was involved since
13. I was a Boy Scout when it was looked on as 'not cool'. I
volunteered for military service when everyone else was protesting the
war in Viet Nam. And I did NOT do it because I was 'gung ho', or wanted
to be in firefights. I did NOT want to be in firefights. I didn't want
to go to war. But serving in the military was part of us.

I have often wished I could be a "vet". I'm not so sure about
being a "combat vet" ... but I suppose that would be an interesting
question for another time: knowing then what you know now, and given
an honorable alternative - how many combat vets would rather just be
"a vet"? Or a "[conflict name] era vet."? [My brother was kind of
content to be a "Grenada Invasion Era" Veteran. OTOH, he was also
happy to be part of the DoD Nuclear Yacht Club too.]

It was something you did as a rite of passage.

We could use a little more of that type of life.

Lloyd
--
pyotr filipivich
"With Age comes Wisdom. Although more often, Age travels alone."