When men were men...

Growing up, my brothers and I liked watching those old black and white westerns on television. The hero always came through and he spent a lot of time protecting innocent women and children from the "bad guy". My father was as big a hero to us boys as John Wayne was to the rest of the world. He was a military firefighter and a Judo expert. He taught his boys how to respect others and how to be gentlemen. He instilled in us that we should avoid a fight if we can, but that we should always stand up to those who would bring harm to others.

In the early 1970's, besides being in the military, my father worked a 12 hour night shift on Friday nights at an Exxon gasoline station that sat along Interstate 20 as it ran through west Texas. On those nights, my brother Tony and I would go with him, helping around the station and doing some cleaning, we were both pre-teens at the time. We thought it was a great thing to be with our dad and to stay up all night!

One evening, just as it was getting dark, a pick-up truck rolled into the station parking lot - it had a flat tire. Out popped two very drunk cowboys and they asked my dad if he could fix their flat. He immediately began to work on the truck and tire. As he was working, he gave my brother and I a look - it was quickly interpreted by both of us that we should stay clear of the two men. Suddenly one of the cowboys started cursing about how long it was taking my father to fix the tire (only 5 minutes had transpired actually). Then the other cowboy starting telling dirty jokes to the other guy.

My father stopped working and looked up at the two tall cowboys and asked them politely if they would please watch their language because his boys were present. The two guys stopped talking for a moment, gave us two boys a look over and then went back to cussing and carrying on. My father, once again - very politely, asked the men to stop. This time they completely ignored him. Tony and I watched my father intently to see what he was going to do.

"Dad" quickly finished repairing the flat and after removing the tire from the machine that he used to put it back on the rim, picked up the tire and began walking toward the guys and their truck. Just as my dad reached the men, he lifted the tire and rim above his head (with one arm) and stepped right into the faces of the two drunk cowboys.

"You know, I've asked you both nicely, two times now to watch your language. So now I'm telling you that if you do not shut up, I'm going to ram this tire down both of your throats."

That is all my father said.

The two men immediately shut their mouths and stepped back away from the truck. The entire time my father spent reattaching the tire and rim to the truck, the cowboys never even made a "peep". My father stood back up and turned toward the men, one of the guys put some cash in my dad's hand and the then the two jumped into the truck and quickly drove off.

Tony and I will never forget that night.