Dark Side

Back in the dark ages I was married, had a toddler son, attended college full time and held down a full time job. It wore me down to the point of being ill, so I chanced taking 2 months off from school. That almost got me sent to Vietnam. The draft was ended just a couple of days before I was report for induction.

I told the Boss that if I was drafted and sent into battle I'd find a deep hole and never stick my head out. She laughed at me in disbelief. "Not a chance" she said. "Somebody you liked would get hurt, then you'd become a screaming on man wrecking machine".

Looking back, she knew me better than I knew myself. I know myself much better now. I can stay cool and accept a lot of crap, as long as the family is left alone. When someone messes with my family, it's all I can do to keep the deeply buried dark side from emerging. In my younger days that dark side would emerge from time to time. I've mellowed with age, or maybe learned control. I'm not sure which.

Below I mentioned running away. That's a really strange thing for me to say, because hip surgery and old age has pretty much eliminated any running that I may try to do. Besides, bullets run a whole lot faster, though distance is a good thing. The fact is, running probably wouldn't happen, especially if family was near. I'm sure that the old dark side would once again emerge. Like I said, I know myself much better now.