Be Excellent to Each other...

If you are over 20 years old, odds are you know who Bill S. Preston, Esquire and Ted Theodore Logan are (and just on the off chance you have lived under a rock and never ever watch movies, go pick your self up a copy of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and a copy of Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. That should clear it all up for you!). They may have seemed like blithering idiots to the world around them and they may not have been the brightest crayon in the box, but they did spread a decent message. "Be Excellent to each other."
I have been reading a lot of stories in the news lately in which people are being horrible to those around them. I mean look at the 15 and 11 year old boys who beat a 94 year old WWII vet with a rock in Atlanta. The 15 year old "allegedly" (I really hate that word, but because everyone is innocent until proven guilty I have to use it) beat Paul Smallwood with a rock while the 11 year old kept watch. And for what? Police believe the motive was robbery. Now the 15 year old is being charged as an adult and the 11 year old's mother is on the news saying he is a good kid. Hello! He kept watch while his friend beat the shit out of a 94 year old war vet! He didn't just wake up one morning and decide that he was going to all of a sudden commit a heinous crime like this. There was some issues with him and his friend before this incident and you can not convince me other wise. Crimes such as this have been happening a lot lately. I mean just a couple days ago here in Athens a 60 some year old man was in an altercation with some thugs. These thugs attempted to mug him but when he hit one of the fine upstanding citizens they both ran off.
It seems to me that many of the criminals have decided to take a different route when it comes to committing their crimes. The weak and seemingly defenseless are overwhelmingly becoming the targets. I am not saying this because it never happened before, but because it seems that the people committing these crimes are getting younger and younger. It may just be me, but they are getting younger right?
These crimes are not the only reason I say people today are just downright evil to each other. Look on any internet forum. People will say anything no matter how hateful to just about anyone else. It is horrible! A dear friend of mine from high school was killed in a motorcycle accident in April. Kenny was riding his motorcycle home when he lost control and was killed in the ensuing accident. Anyone who knew him knew that he was a wonderful human being and almost always had an infectious smile on his face. My point of saying this is not because I want to tell you his story, but because in an article that our hometown newspaper wrote and posted on the internet, many of the people commenting on the article were saying mighty hateful things. Things such as "Stupid kid was probably drunk." or "He deserved it because he was riding a motorcycle" and my absolute favorite one. "Stupid thug was probably drunk and high. He got what was coming to him." Really people? You don't even know the person you are talking about and you are going to jump to conclusions either because of the color of his skin or because he was riding a motorcycle? How fucking callous can you be? ( I try real hard not to curse but sometimes it is really warranted because I can not think of a better word to replace the emphasis I am trying to use.) Word of advice. If you do not know the person that has lost their life, then don't say anything unless you are going to offer condolences. You do not know the person so you can not say whether they are a good person or a bad person. And inevitably there will be a friend or family member that reads your comment. Not all of them will be nice. Hell you might even run into me as a friend or family member of the deceased and I can tell you, You do not want me to be on the other side of the keyboard from you. I do not hold back when someone pisses me off.
Now my whole point in writing this blog was to ask people why it is so hard to be nice and respectful to each other. Why is it so hard to raise our children to show respect and admit when we or our children are wrong? The truth may not always be easy or it may hurt, but trust me it is better than the alternative. I do not know about you but I would much rather spank my child or hurt his feelings while he is young than have him going out into the real world and ending up in prison. I would rather be nice and respectful to my neighbor than constantly fight and bicker with them about things that in the end really do not matter. As someone I know says, "Don't Take life too seriously, you never get out alive."

Now off topic, I want to say that my life has been turned upside down within the last few days. But in a good way. As anyone who knows me, I am not accustomed to change. Well dramatic change anyway. And most people who know me know that my Dad is actually my step-dad. Well, the other day I read an article about a girl who had been looking for her biological father for 12 years and found him on facebook. My mother and biological father lost contact when I was young (maybe 2 or 3?). When I was about 14 or 15 I went to my mother and father and asked if I could try to find my father. My mother started looking right away and at first the search went very smoothly. We tracked him all the way to the state he resides in and then our search went cold. After I read the aforementioned article I decided what the hey. I typed his name (which I have known since I was a small child) into that little search bar and remembering all the facts I have ever known about him, found him on the first profile I looked at. The past few days I have been talking to and getting to know my father. I could not be any happier! In the past few days I have gained an entire family that seems to genuinely want to get to know me. I still love my Dad (step-dad) and do not downgrade anything he has ever done for me, but I want to know and love my father as well. So down the rabbit hole I go!!

(If you wish to donate to the Kenneth Black Memorial Scholarship Fund please do so! I know that Kenny would definitely wanted to help send less fortunate children to culinary school so they could share his love of food and cooking! Just e-mail me for the info and I will e-mail you the director's name!)