...stays at Dad's house.
There is some serious kid action going on in this space. We've got the electronics, the building materials, an awesome Lego collection, a basketball court, the snacks and treats and some of the best music and coin, stamp, seaglass, shell, old bottle, foreign currency, bottle cap, fake gun, photo, book, magazine, stone, fossil, and board game collections known to humankind.
There is also Dad. He's a bit problemmatic, to be truthful, but there's nothing wrong with his cooking. We believe in family dinners around here. Everyone sits around the kitchen table, eating and talking and debating the issues of the day.
Staying quiet isn't an option.
When we go down the back stairs and get into basketball games, the competition can be fierce. Here, on home court, anyone might win. You've gotta consider the apple tree, the bamboo, the posts, the cracks in the cement, the stairs, and the angle of the sun.
Our family is Dad, two boys & a girl, with other blood relatives and friends showing up from time to time. What we do not have here, deep in the gang-ridden Mission District (*more on that in a minute), is the reliable presence of a woman.
Everyone I've dated the past five+ years has loved me, but not my "baggage." So be it. I understand. If I were in their shoes, I'd feel the same way. So it will continue: Dad's house is a bachelor pad, which isn't such a bad thing.
Unless, of course, you'd prefer that the dishes were washed, the towels were clean, the beds were made, and a quiet sense of order would replace the barely controlled chaos that somehow seems at home here.
Beyond that, our lips are sealed. I suppose this is the way it will be until the kids grow up and go away. By then, I'll be 70. Hmmm. I wonder how many women will be interested in me then?
Check back. Not that I'll have enough brain cells functioning to tell the tale...
* Gun violence (thanks, NRA members) has broken out here, with six shooting deaths in the past week. We've always had two warring gangs, but now we have motorcycle gangs as well. Every night, someone gets shot down -- over there, or there, or there. Blood soaks our streets. Here, in the city of love, there's still plenty of hate. Those of us not involved just have to hope we stay out of the way of the stray bullets as the warriors pursue their supremacy, block by block. Thanks again, NRA members and advocates. Thank you so much for threatening peaceful families like mine. What a nice gesture. How good the prospect of your leadership. How thoughtful.
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2 comments:
Our local sheriff aggressively lobbied the State of Ohio to allow citizens to carry guns several years back. Requirements included the usual, common sense controls; criminal background of the applicant, stringent requirements for registration, minimum standards for safe and responsible handling of weapons, recurring training and certification requirements.
To some, the idea of a respected leader in law enforcement arguing for more non-law enforcement citizens to be armed may seem a tad peculiar. After all, he and his deputies are far more likely to face the threat of armed confrontation against the armed and dangerous. It would seem counter-intuitive.
In Florida a number of years ago such legislation was successful and Florida residents who chose to began carrying hand guns. A peculiar thing happened sometime later – the state changed some of its automobile license plates. Now what the heck do you suppose that was all about? And, what the heck would license plates have to do with citizens carrying guns?
Well, not long after Florida residents started carrying, a string of violent assaults on tourists emerged. Thugs and assorted human waste capable of such wanton violence on the innocent had learned that it could be far more dangerous to pick on a Florida citizen; you just never knew when one might be able defend themselves and take you out. It didn't take much for these wizardly cowards to figure out ways to avoid picking on Floridians. One of the easiest methods was to target folks who were driving rental cars. Tags issued to rental cars back then were clearly marked as such in Florida.
Our sheriff, along with numerous other community leaders around the state, finally prevailed several years ago. He and others had studied scores of such examples of actual human experience, along with FBI criminal statistics supporting these patterns of violent criminal behavior and its measurable reduction in communities which allowed law abiding citizens to be armed. Finally, our sheriff pointed out that his deputies had never had a problem with a law abiding citizen. Imagine that.
Prohibition never works. Telling citizens alcohol was illegal didn't make alcohol go away. It did make some criminals very wealthy for a while, just as prohibited drugs do today. This is not a chicken and egg conundrum; the violent criminal comes first, then the gun comes into his hand.
Both the violent criminal and the gun are with us for a while yet to come. We've done a lousy job of dealing with both. If you must dwell in a dangerous environment, don't strip yourself of the ability to defend yourself and those you care for. If you want to see the violence reduced, support efforts to remove the violent criminal first.
Just an added thought, David. How many of these murderous thugs do you suppose are members of the NRA? My guess, pretty close to zero.
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