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Lanse, Allow me to tell you a few things about growing up....that transition from being a boy and into a man. This is being said with a kind voice...no meaness or hardness intended. Many years ago, when I was 19 years old, I took a job with the railroad. Some of the men still working there had hired on in 1930's. There were all sorts of characters in the mix, mostly good men, some no good, but all were BS'ers and enjoyed razzing each other and especially the new meat that hired on. They took no prisoners and sometimes they seemed down right cruel in their remarks and off color jokes. But underneath.....it was all in fun..... .but you had to be a man in order to understand that. These men liked poking until they got you PO'ed and frothing mad...then they laughed at you....to add insult to injury. I always had a hot temper and while age has dimmed it quite a bit, I still find myself doubling my fists on occasion...some things never leave us. Well, one day on the job, this one old head kept giving me grief and I began to lose it. There was another man there who seen things had gone to far and he came to me and said..."Marko, don't ever let them see you get mad because when they know what it takes to tick you off, they'll eat you alive. When they start their BS, just laugh with them and go on and they'll lay off." That was the best advice I was ever given and the man that told me those words was one tough nut and he became a father figure to me. He would cut up with the best of them, jab for jab, but when the dung hit the fan, they left him alone because they knew there'd be Hell to pay. That was a lesson in growing up I will never forget. Learn that what somebody says isn't always meant to cut to the bone, even if it feels that way at the time. Learn the crowd you choose to run with. This bunch is mostly made up of farmers and livestock men....folks who make their living raising animals for slaughter in order to feed the population. Organizations like PETA are arch enemies of the livestock producers and the farmers who plow up mice nests. Espousing membership in PETA here, is almost like attending a Bar Mitzvah while wearing a NAZI armband. It's no wonder you caught heat over that. There are plenty of folks here that don't like what I have to say mainly because I don't buy into Global Warming and the rest of envirokook philosophies. That's okay with me. They have their say and I have mine..that makes us even. So, grow some backbone and hang tough. It'll get better.
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