Rite of Passage

My son Daniel and I joined the Bluegrass Sportsmen's League this weekend. I have several pistols and Daniel has a new rifle given to him by his grandfather/my father-in-law as a 13th birthday gift. It is a rite of passage in the Rabb family clan. While visiting the pistol/rifle range, a US Marine preparing to return to Afghanistan in two days allowed Daniel to fire his civilian version of the M4 rifle - with proper instruction and under CLOSE supervision. Relax mom. :)

The Marine was professional and respectful. He gave instructions. He encouraged Daniel. He was simply being nice to let a young man try a fascinating weapon in the proper way.

Daniel loved it of course. (So did Dad!) But while Daniel and I joined the sportsmen’s club to learn firearm safety and have some manly time together, I pondered the skills and information that he might be learning. On the trip to the club that morning, we had already talked about gun control, gun safety, concealed weapons, the recent shootings at Virginia Tech, and the possibility of copycat attempts at his own school.

But shouldn’t a 13 year old have less burdens and other interests as well? You know, typical teenage things? Like perhaps hanging out with friends like this 12 year old in Thailand.

Or perhaps Daniel should be out dancing in the streets, having fun, celebrating life, like these youngsters in Fallujah, Iraq. They seem pretty happy.

It is a sad, strange world we live in at times. And while I teach my son to respect the power and danger of firearms, and to use them properly; I pray to God that he and his friends will never have to take up arms to defend this nation from those that hate us. I pray that we have had our last school shooting. But our free will makes both seem unlikely.

So while peace here or there, is seemingly nowhere on the horizon, I also thank God for those Marines and other members of our military today. Especially those like the one that shared some moments of his last two days at home, to show a father and son some of the character he had. Semper Fi and stay safe.

Steve Adams
PresidentAdams.com – 2008 campaign site

Steve Adams was born and raised in Ohio, graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a Computer Science degree in 1988, and subsequently moved to Lexington KY. He has worked as a software engineer at an international technology company since 1989. He is married with two children. He is not politically correct, but is politically active. He is a registered INDEPENDENT, running for President of the United States. No joke. You can read all about it on www.PresidentAdams.com or e-mail Steve directly at Steve@PresidentAdams.com.