I don't know Donyet, but what you say is probably true. In 1985 when I visited the Nam Memorial, I cried beside many fellow Vets. Hell, I cry at some sad movies and songs, although I do try to hide it. I cried at funerals for a couple of fallen cops I knew. Haven't been called a P##### yet but then again, might have a lot to do with my size and the situation.

Though stoic in many bad situations, I can be a pretty emotional guy, I cried when my little one lost her eye but did not bring it to her bedside when she needed me most. I held her hand, kissed her, and said everything will be alright, even though I wasn't sure

Internally, I weep when I see some of the posters preach hate based on their political beliefs and don't want this new administration to accomplish anything because they hate "Porch Monkeys" and just won't accept a better direction for this country. And you know who I mean. It isn't cute anymore! I wept when JFK was killed and I was very young. I wept when Robert Kennedy was shot, although, I was older, I thought he would bring better things to this country.

I think we have a second chance, I believe, and I don't think I will live to see a third, nor do I want to if the naysayers on this board keep spreading the hate and the bigotry!

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Peace!

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d;-)

And of course if you did not understand what the Byrds were singing, here are the lyrics-Look at the bold and tried to understand what was being said.

Crimson flames tied through my years
Rollin high and mighty trapped
Countless violent flaming roads
Using ideas as my map
We'll meet on edges soon said I
Proud 'neath heated brow
Ah but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now
Half wracked prejudice leaped forth
Rip down all hate I screamed
Lies that life is black and white
Spoke from my skull. I dreamed
Romantic flanks of musketeers
Foundationed deep, somehow
Ah but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now
In a soldier's stance, I aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach
Fearing not I'd become my enemy
In the instant that I preach
Sisters fled by confusion boats
Mutiny from stern to bow
Ah but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now
My guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow
Ah but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now

The Bush Years-Fear

Dwight Eisenhower once said . .

I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

d;-)

He was a bright man, Denny and now I understand why you and I seem to now get along! And if you saw the spending the way I do and the lies, it backs up that statement.

Like my poem says, give me a REAL man, who is compassionate, has a tender streak, and I'll bet he is head and shoulders above the tough guy, wife abuser!

I do NOT see it as a weakness for a man to show emotion....though I confess it does make me want to mother him, or console him, or cry with him. But hey, that isn't a bad thing at all.

And it's a shame that if a man is caught showing emotion, he is then ridiculed by the 'tough (and usually uncaring) guys.'

afe indeed the cowards. They hide behind a false facade of "manliness", afraid to expose their honest feelings and emotions. In fact, a "real man" is not afraid to let the world inside, to experience the world as it is, with all of the pain and suffering that comes with that.

d;-)

Exactly, and that goes along with my own ideas of what makes up a 'real man' in my own estimation.

For a real man KNOWS compassion, tenderness, and the heartaches of life as we traverse it.

And they acknowledge that, and do not try to hide from it.