Side note....

A few months ago, I posted a note on Facebook telling the story of the DMH (drunken meatheads) that frequent the establishment where I work. There have been plenty since then ( one jackass I had to go to court over after he threatened to shoot up the place because we threw him out) but the other night's DMH was a new high (or low, if you would).

Some jackass decided it was the right time for him to yank a fire extinguisher off the wall and spray it all over the deck of the bar. I chased him down the block and almost caught him but I had to go back to the bar.

This brings me to my newest revelation about people, especially dudes. As a society we are so hyped about the concept of aging and getting old that most of us let it drive us nuts. Knowing that at some point we have to become adults and cut our hair a certain way and tuck in our shirts and other stupid shit like that, way too many guys feel as though the time before all of that happens is the time for us to get out all of our "childish" behaviors and wind up acting like fucking jackasses.

Take your average 18-28 yr. old guy (going ten years since so much of this blog is born of the last ten years of my life). There's lots of drinking and drug use to some degree (not saying that all of that is bad) and lots of the behavior that stems from it is absolute jackassery (my blog, I get to make up the words). And then somewhere in that point or shortly after there's a job, a haircut and a shave and a tucked in shirt (and quite possibly a tie, more on that another time). And most of that exuberance and energy, however misguided, is in an instant, gone.

Why? What are we scared of? Why can't we age and not get old? Is it possible for us to mature without growing up? I still love most of the stuff I loved at 15! Hip Hop, comic books, cartoons, action figures (yeah I said it). And yet I also raise my kids, bust my hump at whatever job I'm working, obey the law and generally stay out of trouble. All dressed in t-shirts and jeans (fuck slacks!), locks hanging, true school banging in the whip or the mp3 player. Does all of this make me less of a grown-up? I hope so. Grown-ups suck! There is no less fun group of people on the planet. I am most certainly a grown-ass man with responsibilities and roles I have to play for the betterment of my family, but a Grown-Up? Never!

All I'm saying is, guys, just because you have to someday accept responsibility for some things in you life doesn't mean that until then you have to act like a nimrod who takes responsibility for nothing. To quote one of my all time favorite MCs, "It's all about manitanin' balance"

Peace

The Voice