Now I’m no Steve Martin and I didn’t have a John Candy to drive me insane, but although I traveled more than a couple of times in my life, I wasn’t able to put into words, this experience. I believe a lot of us just keep this locked up inside for various reasons. But this time I’ll vent So sit back, adjust your monitors and read on:

Just to clarify, I know that many have gone through way worse, but we all experienced what we normally take for granted as “the usual stuff”.

The following is just 1 leg of a 4 way trip. It is representing of the 4 pretty much.

And so it happens one dreary Friday early May 2013 that yours truly went to the Dallas international airport to board a flight to Atlanta GA. I went to the self check in kiosk (Best thing since sliced bread. Verified.), and started the self-explanatory process. numbers of pieces of luggage checked – 1. Press continue. Do not go through “Go”, Do not get 200$, pay 25$. What? Didn’t I (or for that matter my employer) just pay you hundreds of Dollars to move me from point A to point B? What exactly did you expect I’d bring with me? a little zip-lock bag with a compressed change of cloths? Yes I brought a suitcase. I did not bring a tiger in a big cage… a piece of luggage weighing no more than 15 pounds… Oh well… take the damn 25.

Boarding pass in hand and a cup of coffee later I make my way to security checks. Now, I’ve traveled to and from the US. I’ve traveled inside the US. When I walk toward the security checks I’m well-practiced. I wear my Crocs (to avoid hassle and the unpleasant odor), My belt hangs around my neck and I have the laptop out the bag. As soon as I get to these gray bins (they’re all gray aren’t they?) it’s bada-bing bada-boom, I’m ready to go! But, I won’t go through the cancer machine. The privacy is not an issue for me. It’s that radiation I’m just a tad concerned about. So no worries. I signal to the TSA officer and ask for a pat down. They pleasantly acknowledge, accommodate and very politely explain every step, offer to do that in a private room (I decline) and I get tickled for a few minutes. I have to say that all things considered, the TSA security check is the most pleasant part so far! Seriously, kudos to the guys in Newark, Atlanta, Dallas, St. Louis and Seattle.

Then come the real fun part. The one where you have to get to the other side of the airport to board a flight. Ok, there’s a nice little train. I get to the gate about 10 minutes prior to the boarding time announced on my boarding pass. Why? Because my timing is so damn good! I look outside and something seems odd… I can see that long sleeve I’d be walking to board the plane, but what’s missing at the end of that sleeve exactly 10 minutes prior to boarding? Oh, it’s the plane!

Turns out, our pilot’s running a little late. Well, that’s just dandy isn’t it? Cause I’m not a smoker, so who cares, we’ll just wait. Oh, but come to think about it, I AM a smoker. And I do make the effort to make it on time and once you passed security, there’s no where to smoke. Or IS there?

I politely ask a guy who seems to work there and he point and says “Right next to gate so and so”. Cool beans, I’ll just chill. Cup of coffee, a smoke and back in time for the new boarding time posted on the electronic board at my gate. I step gingerly (cause that’s how a smoker steps after he finds out he CAN smoke after all) towards said location and step into what seems like the fanciest, cleanest and best smelling smoking spot in the history of smoking. Confused, I ask the nice lady where I could smoke and she smiles politely and points up “Well, if you’re a member it’s right up here”.

I give her my “whadyatalkingaboutwillis” look. “Member?”

“Yes, you can join if you pay 51 Dollars.”

Now I AM a bad smoker. I’m like a junky for tobacco. But I never smoked any cigarette that costs 51 Dollars… Nor do I plan to join a club just for a smoke. What the hell is wrong with you people? I don’t expect to be allowed to smoke just anywhere and anytime. I do respect other’s right to breathe clean air. But can’t you allocate a small little ventilated room for us junkies, Dallas?… Or is it about money? Rhetorical question, no need to answer.

Deflated, I made my way back to the gate area and hooked my laptop to a socket in the floor and watch a full episode of “Fringe” (Great series). Just to give you an idea of the wait (Remember, we’re still waiting for the plane…). I mill around for a bit, as my bones are old and weary and at long last a call to board! Who boards first? First class, as in these guys who paid extra to sit at the front.

Now I’m no rocket scientist. I do however find it more logical to board the people sitting at the very back first. That way, there are no “traffic jams” when you finally board. But then again, I’m looking for logic in an irrational environment, and these guys did pay more so there.

Do you also find it a little annoying that when you board, the air conditioning system is working, but as soon as everyone is in and it’s as crowded as it gets, after you jammed you mini bag into the mini compartment and somehow closed it, then they turn the air con off… for a few minutes… what happens next is a perspiration fest. Each one is competing with the other, who can sweat more in preparation for…. wait for it… that cold blast of air when they turn the damn thing on again.

Make up your mind! That’s how I got my flu

Next comes “Seemingly aimless hanging around in the plane, part 1″, where you seemingly hang around aimlessly inside an immobile plane waiting for… something to happen. Preferably take off. The captain makes a little small talk and promises to be up in the air in a few minutes. Now, ladies, you know men. They promised to fix that sink 6 months ago damn it!

After eternity the plane moves. It actually moves and while the air hostesses do their best cabaret with these buckles and those sick looking masks it drives around the airport for about an hour. Is the captain lost? Is that why WE had to wait for over an hour to board? Don’t they get a free map of the airport when they’re assigned a route? We drive for ages until this beautiful sentence is heard “Crew get ready for take off”.

I’ll skip all the little tidbits of in flight thievery and get to the landing.

After the pilot seemed to have plunged from 34000 ft to touch down on the wet Atlanta strip, we get to  ”Seemingly aimless hanging around in the plane, part 2″ where you seemingly hang around aimlessly in the plane as it gives you the tour d’force of the airport. For another piece of eternity the plane wanders around the airport, apparently looking for a free parking space, although the pilot told you back in Dallas with no little level of confidence that you’d be arriving at gate so and so. They even went as far as telling you how to get to the baggage pickup from that very gate.

Wow, did not mean the post to be that long… and I didn’t even get to trains or automobiles…Then again, did not expect a 1 h 40 m trip to take over 4 hours… I would think that paying hundreds of dollars for a ticket would make our time of some consequence. But unfortunately, fairly consistently it does not…

Now, back to work, back to health, back to writing!

Thanks for flying with me today.

   VS   

Two worthy opponents, and if you read them both, you’d know that they represent two pretty much opposite approaches to writing. Or, do they?…

If you want a one liner to describe the above statement consider the title “Pantsers (King) Vs. Plotters (Brooks)”.

Mr. Brooks, in his book hypothesizes that every (Good) novel is built. Built using a well-defined architecture, using  clearly defined competencies. He dedicates the book to walk one through these. As King wrote his book earlier, Brooks makes a few references to his book as how you should not go about writing.

Mr. King on the other hand, in his unique way, shows us how he created some of the best literary creations and makes a point of focusing on the actual writing process. Where Larry Brooks sees building blocks, Stephen King sees a table and a quiet room. Where Brooks talks about competencies, Kind provides the analogy in the title of this post.

So, Literature is like archaeology, is it, Mr. King?

Let me tell you about my writing coach Christina Ranallo. In these past weeks, I spent a lot of time doing the re-write of my first novel. I wrote the novel after plotting it from A to Z (Yes, I’m a plotter). When I typed those wonderful words at the end of the manuscript “The End”, I knew it was merely the end of the first draft and the next step would be to go back to square one and “clean it up”. Remove this, add that, “fix some stuff”, plug holes and so much more.

But what was more important than anything really was, to make sure that what comes out is my story.

Larry Brooks talks a lot about plot and I totally agree. Any good novel you ever read contains a plot that can be clearly outlined. He goes on to say that regardless how you wrote, whether you plotted before writing word one, or just wrote at the seat of your pants, if you ended up with a good story, it would have a clearly outlined plot. He’s right there as well.

Stephen King says that one should write his heart out, slowly uncovering a story that already exists. Like an archaeologist. One layer after the other.

It was working with Christina from the inception of the concept of the novel, through plotting it (as Mr. Brooks preaches) and all the way to uncovering the story (as per Mr. King’s school), that brought me to the realization that there is no clear winner to this debate. Mr. Brooks is right. You need a plot. Mr. King is right. You have to uncover your story.

So many of us write a lot of words. We fill out pages with beautifully compiled text. But are we really writing a story? A novel?

Where both are great experts, and I say that with all due sincerity, Christina says something simple – You can’t sell an unwritten manuscript. Whether you plot your heart out or seal yourself off for eight months, you have to FINISH your work. Once you finish your book, make sure you uncovered your story. Make sure it includes the major components every good novel has.

I sure hope I did all I could. Just a few more steps. It IS a learning experience and once I get the first one through them all, the next ones should be better and faster.

Did you read these books? Do you have a winner? Care to share your thoughts?

OLD people.

Let me ask you a few questions if I may.

Who are your role models? People you look up to, are inspired by?

How many of you answered “Mom” or “Dad“? How many said “Granny” or “Gramps”? A president perhaps? another public figure?

I’d venture a guess that there were way more answers as the above than say, Justin Bieber. Now I respect young Bieber just like the next one, but he’s not even close to qualify. Simply due to the extremely short span of his life so far.

So, in other words, I think it’s safe to say that most of our role models are people who have “done something in their lives”. If I want to be clearer (and I do), OLDer people.

One of the 10 commandments is “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”

Even if you’re not religious (I’m not), I’m sure that some adult have told you sometime before today that it’s very important to respect the elder.

Now not all elders are created equal… Surely I’d have a lot of respect to the Dalai Lama, while I will have nothing but contempt for Adolf Hitler… I’m simply generalizing, as for me, Old people mean mothers and fathers, grandparents and so on. They don’t have to be mine too. I see an old man in the street and I see someone’s role model. Someone’s grandpa.

Here are just a couple of more questions.

How many of you would physically assault Nelson Mandela, if he happened to point out to you that you parked your car against the law? How many of you would beat up Grandma or Grandpa if they told you that the music you blast out in a public playground is too loud?

“Well that’s a bit extreme, isn’t it?” You might say.

YES. It fucking IS!

But these things happened. And for some reason, I can’t look at a newspaper these days and not see another case of teenagers or young adults (if you can call them that…) physically or verbally assaulting elderly men and women.

You know, psychologists will tell you that a kid drawing a picture of a parent with exaggerated limbs is said to fear the parent. My god, I do not wish to see how the elderly would draw us…

We could take this post now and try to find the reasons which lead to these sub humans attacking  old people. We could try to look for the root cause. Maybe they’re upbringing could have been better… maybe their social-economic environment was this way or the other. But you know what?

I don’t care. I don’t care about the attackers.

I know that SOME old men can be grumpy or downright mean. I was a teenager. When I was told I’m playing my electric guitar (If you can call that playing…) too loud, I’d think “Jeez, you’re just too old.” and maybe they were too old.

But I would NEVER. EVER. even entertain the thought of hitting or swearing at an old woman (Not that young ones are game, but still…)

Where I come from, old people are the ones who built the nation. They’re the ones who made it possible for me to have what I have, and I don’t get it. I just don’t fucking get it.

There aught to be a law! Hold on… there IS one! I would like to see these PUNKS get what they really deserve.

Here’s a suggestion for you (I stole it from someone) – subtract the age of the attacker from the age of the victim then add 5 for good measures, and that’s the jail time these good for nothing, selfish, disrespectful menaces should serve. With hard labor. Preferably building homes for those elders who may not have one.

My role models are definitely my parents who, literally, gave me everything they could. I’m forever in their debt.

Who are your roles models? Why? What would be a fitting punishment for those who assault our parents? Can we do something?

1. Understand the environment and the ground rules.

Understanding the environment and understanding the ground rules are two different things. But they’re linked because the ground rules are largely there in response to the environment needs. What I want to say is this – Sports related forums are consisted of a wide variety of people. Gender, age, geography and other separating aspects are represented, but it would be a very safe assumption to say that out of the total number of registered users, a small fragment is active.

I would take a big risk, but keep in mind that I have been doing this for a while, when I say that the majority of active posters would be mostly (not exclusively) very young males, some single males in their 20-30s and some married older guys in their 40s+ (Hey, I AM one).

Knowing this, you can expect the rules and regulations to correspond with language, “behavior” and other limitations that are required in order to keep the forum going. No normative person wants to discuss sports with a bunch of racist people… Most people do not enjoy a forum full of profanity and insults towards each other. That’s why there are rules. Those rules will tell you what can lead to you being suspended (temporarily banned) or expelled (Banned). I  HIGHLY recommend reading these rules, as what might seem to you as an innocent statement, might “get you in trouble”. You also want to be taken seriously (if you’re an adult), so staying away from negative would prove beneficial overall.

I highly recommend resisting the urge to join and start posting. Instead, take the time and “lurk” for a while. Get a feel of how things are done ’round  here. When you think you’re ready, jump right in. Introduce yourself (Without making a big deal about it…) and post away.

2. ALWAYS remember – You’re conversing with people you don’t know.

Don’t assume. People come from different walks of life, have different views and habits. They have different slang, different mentality. You’re also conversing on a platform that does not translate sarcasm or humor very well. The people on the forum are not your friends. Some might be very friendly, but they are not your friends. Why is that important? Well, we have this tendency to develop expectations from people, small as they might be. Don’t. This is doubly important if you’re very young, just some basic internet safety, on top of the above. These safety rules are just as important on a forum as they are anywhere else.

There’s absolutely no need to share your name, address, marital status, kids, social security number or any identifying details with anyone on the forums. As nice as they are. In fact, the nicer they are, hold that information closer.

Remember this point (about people you don’t know). We’ll talk about it again.

3. Have a sense of humor, don’t feed the trolls!

If you don’t have a sense of humor or if you’re unable to take a joke (especially when it’s on your expense), do yourself a favor and stay well away from these forums. Two things happen a lot more on sports related forums than any other kind. Joke threads and Troll threads. Yes, there’s a difference between them and it’s up to you to remember this.

Joke threads are just what they are – threads that were created just because the original poster (OP from now on) thought of something that made him giggle and decided to share it with the forum. What do you do in this situation? Up to you. You can read and have a laugh, then move on. You can read and decide to participate (I recommend doing it with good taste, but again, up to you…), or you might find it not funny at all, in which case I urge you to ignore and live on.

Now troll threads on the other hand have one purpose and one purpose only. Here, the OP wants attention. Believe me, he wants ANY KIND of attention. Reasons are plenty and they matter not to you. You should follow the golden rule – DON’T FEED THE TROLL.

Here’s how it works – the OP will post something ridiculous, more often than not – offensive to as many as he deems possible. “Good trolls” know how to write this so it will solicit responses. DON’T. Let that thread die a horrible and lonely death. I promise you, I have never seen a troll thread that brought any good. At best, the OP would be banned and you could go about your business, but if you participate, you might find yourself suspended or banned. What for? For a person you don’t know?

Do not, repeat – do NOT allow yourself to be dragged into a pissing contest with another poster. Same results. Leave it to the forum’s moderators. The vast majority of these are fair and adult. They will help weed out the trolls. Trolls will never go away, as they need attention, but you can, and should, help by staying well away from their shenanigans.

4. Opinions are like…. you know. Everyone has them.

You joined a forum. What the hell were you expecting? You’re not joining a religious cult. People WILL think differently. Learn to deal with it. First of all, you might learn something. I’m not suggesting that as a result of a forum thread you’ll say “Well, dang, fuck this shit, I’m no longer a Manchester United fan, I think I’ll be a Manchester City fan from now on!”. No. First of all it’s ridiculous, cause everybody knows that Man U is far superior to City (heh). Second, I mean, you might learn that there are different ways to look at the game (or whatever).

Have some respect to other people’s opinion if you want yours to get some, is all I’m saying. No one is attacking you personally when they say that Kobe played like shit last night (that’s an impossibility right there, but still).  If someone called YOU an ass, ok, see point 4 about trolls, but other than that, you’re here to talk about something you enjoy talking about, right? How boring would a forum be if all threads started with the initial premise and only had supporting replies? It wouldn’t be a forum, it would be a Church (of any religion).

Good threads are always ones where multiple posters share their various thoughts about the original topic and you can see how every reply might challenge and solicit more discussion. As long as it stays on point (VERY difficult in sports related forums due to favoritism) and maintain mutual respect, these are really fun threads to read and participate in.

5. You are here to enjoy!

Every time you log in as yourself two questions.

Why am I here? You should always answer this with “To enjoy myself”

Then ask yourself “Are you enjoying yourself?” The answer should be very simple – Yes or No. If you answered Yes – happy posting! If you answered “No”, well… what are you going to do about it? My recommendation is – leave.

Look, this is not a marriage. It’s not a job. It’s not family. It’s not a jail. Simply go and do something else you DO enjoy. Why on earth would you stay if you don’t enjoy it? You don’t know any of these people and they don’t know you. Don’t worry, you won’t hurt anyone’s feeling by leaving… believe it or not, many have done that before you, as will many after you’re gone. Besides, if years later you discover a new passion, well guess what? You can come BACK! Yay!

One last recommendation for you, if you said “No”. Do not post a farewell post. You’re not an attention seeking troll, are you? no one cares

I hope you found this interesting and somewhat helpful What is your take on forums? sports related or not.

Spring’s Break / Musings from the edge of winter

Rhymes it not

Does that make sense

When at the end of winter

Comes spring’s break.

The trees are brown

From where I sit

I nurse my pain

Like a child.

Between the lines

Of a yellowing pad

I halt and take a breath

But there’s no time

For that today

There are many miles ahead.

The wall is high

Can I be seen

I cheat, I walk around it

Or through it.

I break.

That was me for today. As my hand improves, I hope to get back to full posting schedule. Check back.

~Scarlett Johansson~

I wasn’t mad with her at all, even when she slapped me with that restraining order. It was her blood sucking lawyers who did that. Also, back at the red carpet I was only trying to get a closer look. I did know it would now take a miracle though.
Following a thorough search through wizards-r-us.com I contacted Jake. The wizard was surprised at the age of his client when I walked into his one bed room apartment. He joked about parental consent and I showed him my student card. He didn’t get under my skin too much about the whole thing. He only wanted to know why her. I said “I don’t know man. I just have to feel her skin before I die.” Jake pronounced a few obscure words in succession and asked me not to drive until further notice.
A few hours later, I stood there on the wall and giggled or did I buzz? Not sure. I do remember imagining a smile on my fly face.
No fucking bodyguard can shove me off now. No smiling spokesperson to tell me “I’m sorry but Ms. Johansson is away on a shoot” or some other kind of BS. No policeman to wave a finger at me, calling me a “perv” and order me out of a tree. Not even my mom asking me if it wasn’t time to take those posters off the wall. Perhaps get something more “Age appropriate.”
No sir. I was done with that crap. My dream came true. I’m a fly on her wall and let me tell you it’s awesome. I got my own little reality show with no filters and no commercials. Well, unless it’s Scarlett’s.
After a while I got antsy and since my new status enabled proximity in ways I couldn’t dream possible before, I decided to go for a closer inspection.
Landing first behind her on the sofa I observed the milky complexion of her skin. I circled quietly around her and was dazzled by the beauty of her face. Landing once again on the sofa I inched closer and rested on her shoulder, taking care to stay on her shirt. The smell of her perfume was overwhelming and I had to fly away to regain my senses.
While I was resting on the ceiling above her bed, she walked into her bedroom and took her clothes off. She climbed on the bed but did not cover herself.
The little human left in me screamed “It’s now or never”. I dove in and hovered for a few seconds over the two curvy objects that occupied my mind for so long before slowly landing on the left nipple. And then it hit me.

Reblogged from Gil Shalev:

Due to circumstances best left unsaid (I did not try to commit suicide, is all I’ll say), my wrists are hurting… Thus making the thing I like most pretty much impossible (which begs the question “Well, how did I type this?” Which I will answer with “With tears in my eyes”).

I will be posting something as soon as it gets better and it should be epic!

Thank you for your patience.

Gil

This event will feature some very interesting and potentially great fun fights. Some of the names to look for – Urijah Faber, Ivan Menjivar, Josh Koscheck and TUF winner Court McGee among others. This before the Co-Main event which features two fantastic fighters – Lyoto Machida and Dan Henderson.

Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida is the former UFC Light Heavy Weight (LHW) champion, with a record of 18-3-0, with his only losses being against two previous LHW champions (Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson) and the current one, Jon “Bones” Jones (Who’s considered to be one of the top 3 pound of pound best fighters in the world today).

Dan “Hendo” Henderson is a legend in terms of MMA. With wins over the creme de la creme of MMA. Google the names Fedor, Shugon, Rich Franklin for a very short sample of fighters who fell victim to the 1st fighter in history to hold both the welterweight and middleweight belts in Pride FC!

So far sounds like a pretty damn good show right? And the Co-Main event is superb, featuring two great fighters. Which begs the question – why would this be the Co-main and not THE main event?

The answer is the key for today’s post.

Yes ladies and Gentlemen. The main event features two pretty ladies. In case you smirked, I’ll have you know that both of them would kick your sexist ass. One of them would be taking your arm home as a souvenir…

It shouldn’t be an issue right? Not in 2013! After all, for pretty much every sport – including golf (if you can call that sport…) – we have the women sport right? So why should people raise their brow? Well, apparently that’s still somewhat of an issue when it comes to MMA. We already have women boxing and as boring as I find it, they deserve their props. So why not all the way? Many people (so-called MMA fans) still voice objections. I’m actually a little shocked (Should I be?) at some of the derogatory comments I read on internet forums about how they don’t belong in the octagon.

Dana White (UFC President) was still unsold on the idea as late as 2012 and only recently changed his mind. I believe that the woman responsible for this is one of the participants of this weekend’s PPV, the current (and first ever) UFC Bantamweight women champion – “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey. As the first American to earn an Olympic medal (Bronze) in Judo, and a sexy lady as a bonus, Ronda made the leap into MMA and more importantly to the “mainstream”. As much as an MMA fighter can be a household name.

Ronda broke into MMA as part of “Strikeforce” where she ascended rapidly to the top of the food chain by winning all of her fights (4) within the first round by submission. The same submission. Arm bar… Need I say more? In her last 2 fights, a title win and a successful title defense, Ronda showed improved striking skills in addition to phenomenal Judo and amazing Brazilian jiu-jitsu and so far seems unstoppable.

That is, unless you ask Liz Carmouche.

Liz is not only a women, but also… Huh! a Lesbian!

As if the sexists are not enough, here’s a kick in the collective homophobic back side… An Ex Marine, Liz did three middle east tours and one look at her would deter any thought of getting on her bad side. If she has one that is. So far, all we saw of Liz is class. A hard-working fighter, She has a fairly balanced skill set inside the octagon and she has some serious power.

She is coming off of 2 losses, one of which to a fighter who was destroyed (as usual) by Rousey, but believe me – stranger things happened before. They say that anything is possible in the UFC (excluding beating Anderson Silva apparently), so we will have to wait and see.

I, for one, can’t wait to see the women on the main event. I’m hoping they show their full potential and shut some mouths up. If you must have my prediction I’ll have to go with Rousey because… damn she’s good

But the point is that no matter who wins, Liz or Ronda. Women fighters and people who wants to see them should all be behind these two ladies and hope they kick ass and fight with a lot of pride. They work as hard as any man. In fact harder. Rousey needs to keep reminding people who those sexy photos are cool, but she’s one dangerous fox. Carmouche needs to… well, I’m afraid she might have play into one of the stereotypes whatever the case may be… sad, but true. It’s not on her though, that one’s on us.

You go girls!

Don’t blink!

What is a hero? Who are our heroes? Presidents, firefighters, sportsmen/women, people who stood up for something, overcame great obstacles, beat the odds. Who represents the hero better? The man who was born with a million dollars in the bank and made a Gazillion? Or the poor man who started a small business in his mother-in-law’s garage and turned it into a worldwide company, earning a ton of money in the process?

Look at the books you read, the movies you watched. None of the heroes started out with the prize. Even the ones who seemed to have it all didn’t (because the prize wasn’t what they already have). They had to work hard, overcome obstacles and sacrifice in order to get what they want. If they didn’t… they wouldn’t really be heroes, now would they?

And who are these people?

Who’s John McClane?

When we first meet him, he’s a separated cop from New York who has no control on his life. Some would say he’s a loser. His wife knows better than to stick around him. He doesn’t appreciate her. Later we learn that even his kids are not exactly his biggest fans. But still, at the end of the movie we all smile and say whatever catch phrase with him. Was it just because we wanted to see Hans Gruber fall out the window? Or was it that we thought that he sacrificed enough for 90 minutes?

Who’s Rosa Parks?

Rosa Parks was “just a woman”. Like millions around us. Why is she (rightfully) considered a hero? Because she stood up (no pun intended) for what she believed in. Because by her act of defiance against the villain (make no mistake about it, that’s what she did), she inspired a great amount of people to press on with their journey. She still is an inspiration for every person facing adversity and injustice. We might not know her personally, but we all do. We all would like to think we would’ve sat down and did the same. We identify.

Who’s the firefighter?

The firefighter doesn’t know you. He came in to do a job he gets paid to do. Like the plumber your wife called the other day. Only when the plumber came the house was, shall we say, a little safer to enter. So of course they get paid (some say not enough), but they still put their lives on the line for yours. Oh, did I mention that they don’t even know who you are? People (rightfully) admire firefighters because they are willing to walk into a burning tower to make sure that you get out.

All of these people are, as the song says, ordinary. They became heroes through sacrifice and overcoming obstacles. We applaud them and want to be like them.

But what happens when a hero turns out to be an anti-hero? See Lance Armstrong or OJ for instance…

In books and on film it can easily be fixed. We can always write a great redemption story. And why not? The reader wants to see the hero who fell from grace rise up again and redeem himself. It’s simply the new chapter in the hero’s book. We want to forgive as readers.

Guess what? We want to forgive as people. We want Lance Armstrong to come out of this. However that’s where the similarity to fiction ends. In “real life” this is a lot more difficult than on paper. It’s going to take a hell of a lot more than an interview with Oprah to convince us that he learned from his mistakes. It will take more to show us that he’s willing to fully accept responsibility. It will take hard work, overcoming obstacles and a great deal of sacrifice to win us over again.

Now, Lance Armstrong is an ordinary man. and the above is exactly what a hero is made of!

So what do you think? Is Lance going to make it? Do you see yourself forgiving? Have you already done so?