We Like It

Dusty Winslow lives in the Bitterroot Valley of Western Montana. He has a blog entitled “View of the Bitterroot”. Dusty writes articles for his blog about the people who live in the Bitterroot Valley. I have been reading Dusty’s articles for several months. Each article begins with an amusing story about one of Dusty’s friends and ends on a serious note. I have enjoyed reading Dusty’s articles and thought you might like to know about them.

Dusty’s blog can be found at www.dustywinslow.com. Dusty will include you on his distribution list if you send him an e-mail at dustywinslow@att.net.

Dusty gave me permission to publish his latest article, which is entitled “We Like It”. Here is what Dusty had to say:

So me and Joan met my pal Hippie Dave and his girlfriend Nancy down at O’Brian’s Bar and Grill for an early supper. We sat at a 4-top and ordered drinks and burgers.

We were enjoying our refreshing cold beverages and anticipating our hot, juicy beef on a bun, when the front door swung open and in walked Stinky Pete. He was soaking wet and had that wild look in his eyes like somebody who’d been zapped with a joy buzzer one too many times. Whatever was bothering him, he no longer thought that it was funny.

He ordered a Jagermeister and a beer and, without waiting for an invitation, pulled a chair up to our table. Joan and Nancy slid over to make room. He threw back his shot, took a swig of beer, and sat there glaring, a puddle of water forming at his feet.

Since nobody else was going to do it, I asked, “What’s up, Stinky?”

He’d been out guiding, and the weather hadn’t cooperated. It rained, it snowed, the wind blew, the sun came out, and then it really rained. He complained about how his clients couldn’t cast, they couldn’t set the hook, and they didn’t know how to fight a fish if they hooked one. I quietly suggested that those were probably the reasons why they hired a guide, but when Stinky gave me his death stare, I didn’t push the issue.

Then, when he was putting his raft on the trailer, one of the clients got enthusiastic about helping him and wound up dropping an oar in the river. As he was hurrying downstream after it, Stinky slipped and fell in the water, getting even wetter than he already was.

“All in all, I’d have to say that it was a pretty crappy day fishing,” Stinky said as he finished up his tale of misery and woe.

Dave said, “Dude, you’re missing the point. You get paid to fish.”

That got me to thinking.

There are some folks who take for granted the blessings that have been bestowed upon them. Take for instance the Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces, Barak Obama.

At the end of the 2-day nuclear security summit in Washington, D.C. last week, he was asked about how the summit would affect the efforts to bring peace to the Middle East. In his response, the President said, “It is a vital national security interest of the United States to reduce these conflicts because, whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower, and when conflicts break out, one way or another, we get pulled into them.”

Whether we like it or not? What the hell is that supposed to mean?

I’ve got news for you pal…we like it. Obviously, Obama has no regard for the determined American spirit and the sacrifice that made us a dominant military superpower. It also seems like he’d rather not remain in that position.

Many brave men and women fought and died so that the President could represent our interests and the interests of freedom around the globe. He would do well to honor their memory.

The role that the United States has played in the world by virtue of its dominant status is that of defender of the defenseless, liberator of the oppressed, and enemy of tyrants. Throughout our country’s brief history, we have confronted evil and righted injustice. These are not things to apologize for or to be ashamed of.

What would Obama prefer? That we were a second rate country whose opinion carried no weight with other leaders. Well, that would certainly make his job easier now wouldn’t it? But that’s not the job he was elected to do.

I didn’t vote for him, but I still require that he act like the leader of the free world. Not like some American Idol contestant who can’t sing but still grovels at Simon Cowell’s feet while desperately begging for some sign of approval.

To quote the movie Spider-Man, “With great power comes great responsibility.” The President of the United States can act as a force of good because the office and the country command respect.

While the President’s approval rating here in America has dropped to a new low, he still remains very popular in Europe. I figure he’d have been better off as president of France.

Obama may feel that groveling and apologizing will get him what he wants on the international stage, but I say, “Dude, you’re missing the point. You get paid to lead and, thanks to those who’ve gone before you, you’ve got the tools to do it.”

I don’t know, I guess I think too hard about these things.