THE VIRTUES OF BAD-ASSERY

This crusty looking gent is none other than Sir Ernest Shackleton returning from being stranded in Antarctica for a harrowing two years …Badass.

Have you ever heard of Hugh Glass? Glass was a trapper and frontiersman back in the early 19th century. In 1823, while on a trapping expedition in what is now northern South Dakota, Glass came upon a mother grizzly and her cubs. The grizzly mauled Glass horribly before he was able to kill the bear with his knife. The bear was dead but so too it seemed, was Glass. He had suffered a broken leg, severe lacerations on his face and back and with exposed, broken ribs it seemed certain Glass would die. 200 mile from the nearest post, Glass’s companions covered him with a bear skin and left him for dead. But that’s not the end of the story. Glass regained consciousness, set his own leg and following the river, crawled the 200 mile to Fort Kiowa, Missouri. To prevent gangrene, Glass laid his mangled leg across a rotting log and let maggots feed on the rotting flesh. The journey took him six weeks during which time he subsided mostly on berries and roots. At one point on his trek, Glass was able to, without weapons, drive two wolves from a downed bison calf so he could partake of the meat. He survived his ordeal and lived another ten years. Pretty impressive I would say.

How about Ernest Shackleton? The early 20th century polar explorer who, beginning in 1914, along with his crew of 22 men, spent two years stranded in Antarctica when his ship “The Endurance” became ice locked and eventually crushed. The men then spent the next two months traveling to Elephant Island, 346 miles from where their ship had sank. From there Shackleton and a crew of 5 men, in a makeshift sailing ship, fashioned from a 20 foot lifeboat, made a harrowing 720 mile journey through stormy seas to South Georgia Island. When they arrived at South Georgia, they had blown in on the south side of the island, the whaling station they had aimed for was on the north side of the island. With the small boat unfit to make the journey to the other side, Shackleton and two men traversed 32 miles, over an icy, mountainous terrain to find help. It took them a mere 36 hours, a feat which today’s mountaineers, aided by modern equipment fail to emulate. Shackleton would be on the ship that rescued his men from Elephant Island four and half months after he had left them. Throughout it all the expedition suffered no casualties. Another example of heroic perseverance.

The next guy I’m sure you have never heard of, but he is one of my personal heroes. His name was John Zorn and he was my grandfather. Zorn was at the D-Day invasion of Normandy in 1944. He survived the battle but was captured by German forces a week later. Zorn and the other prisoners were then forced to walk ,some without shoes, through freezing temperatures at gunpoint to the first of several destinations, the final being Stalag III-C near Kustrin, Germany. They had been beaten and starved (grandpa came back weighing less than 100 lbs) but after 9 months and several failed attempts, Zorn and another man finally escaped. The two then walked for three months, covering a distance of 900 miles, before being rescued by ally troops. Then, while being transported, the refugee train they were on collided with another train and in the carnage my grandfather’s shoulder smashed into the man he had escaped with, breaking his neck and killing him. Zorn survived the wreck and after a lengthy recovery in Hot Springs, Arkansas, he returned to civilian life and live to the age of 87, when complications from his ordeal (he had lung damage due to a blood clot that had broken loose from his leg which had been badly frozen during his captivity) finally caught up with him. A heavy-weight champion of badassery in my opinion.

We all know stories or even people that exemplify the term “Badass”. We have all read books and seen movies where these types endure seemingly inhuman suffering only to come out the other end all the better for it. What if you had access to someone like this in your everyday life? What if one of these monsters of resilience and inner strength lived with you on a daily basis? Oh, the knowledge and inspiration that could be had. Well, my friends, take a look in the mirror and as the late, great, godfather of soul James Brown once said “…you know what you see, You see a bad mutha”.

You are a badass of Zeus-like proportions and you may not even know it. We all are, you, me and the guy you work with that can barely tie his shoes, we are all bad muthas. We all have the ability to dig deep when the shit goes down and come out the victor…or at least come out. Think back on your own life. If you’re over 16 years old you have probably been in the shit at sometime during your life, we all have. Whether it’s been domestic abuse, being molested as a child, fighting mental illness or even tolerating the idiots and douchebags you work with so you don’t go on a shooting spree, we have all had to dig deep and gut it out. Most of us have had to show heroic perseverance at some point in our lives or we simply wouldn’t be here.

My grandfather made it clear to me that he wasn’t anything special (though I still think he was) but rather, just a regular Joe doing what he had to do to see another day. And I will bet dollars to doughnuts that would be the message any badass would convey if asked about their abilities. Nothing fancy here, just guts and determination…qualities we all possess if we choose to exercise them.

In the movie “Cool Hand Luke” (one of the best movies ever made in my opinion) Paul Newman plays just such a gent. In one scene, “Luke” (Newman) dukes it out with George Kennedy’s character, “Dragline”. Luke is outmatched and taking a trouncing at the hands of his adversary but each time he gets knocked down, he gets back up. He does this over and over again until Kennedy’s character simply walks away. So who won? That’s the idea, just keep getting the fuck up. You get dumped by your spouse or lover, get the fuck up. You get fired from your job, get the fuck up. You lose everything you have ever had in a freak tooth brushing accident, get the fuck up (and carry on the oral hygiene). You’re still breathing so get the fuck up. That’s all there is to it.

I have, in my own life, had experiences that have left many folks (myself included) wondering how I managed to carry on. I have cheated death on a few occasions. I’ve been punched, kicked, bitten, choked and gouged. I’ve endured beatings with ax handles, pool cues and beer bottles. I’ve survived serious disease, a heart attack, chronic pain, drug abuse, the joys of alcohol poisoning, motorcycle crashes, crippling depression, bankruptcies, divorce and the loss of those closest to me, yet here I stand. And you want to know how I did it? I am a bad mother fucker, not too bright, but a bad mother fucker all the same. Not to say I wasn’t bitching and moaning like a schoolgirl while it was happening; the times I’ve wanted to cash it in are too numerous to count but I’ve always gotten up. I didn’t have a choice. I just got up, dusted off and kept trying.  Sure, we all have the occasional bout of the “fuckitz”, but what was the alternative?

The point is, we all have the ability to carry on when life pulls the rug out from under us, we just have to steel ourselves and realize this too shall pass. When I’m in the middle of a crisis, I try to remember, this shit will eventually end…and it always does. Then you wipe off the blood, change your underwear and get on with it. Many people don’t think they have this special ability but they have just forgotten what it is like to be tested. They have let themselves go soft and along with it, their sense of determination and badassery. You don’t have to have a history of kicking the teeth out of people’s heads or be able deadlift X amount of weight to be a badass. You just have to withstand that which has been put before you and never give up.

There is a reason the human race is at the top of the food chain, we aren’t the strongest or the fastest but we are some tenacious fuckers and throughout history we have always figured out a way to carry on. We need to rekindle the inner beast we all harbor, the one that says “Fuck you, I’m not done yet”. We all need to get the fuck up when life puts us in the dirt and just keep on truckin’. Just remember you’re not weak, you have the capacity to endure just about anything. You are a badass of the highest magnitude, you just have to keep getting the fuck up.

“Fall down nine times, get up ten”

Zen proverb

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