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1fortyfanatic
04-18-2008 16:31:02
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Re: A note to the forum members. in reply to Mike CA, 04-17-2008 23:17:34
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Mike,
I've yanked your chain a little here and there, but I hope you realized it was done in a joking manner (like the tire thing), and I think you've done a great job in a short time. I've got a great sense of humor, it just doesn't always translate to text real well. Anyway, keep on keepin' on.
As for giving kids a ride. You were in the Navy. I know that safety and thinking ahead were drilled into you. While it rankles some, and I understand their concerns, commons sense tells me that I'm not wrong in how I do it. First, I never do so on ANYTHING other than flat ground. I have one arm around the child during any motion (throttle is slightly above idle and is the notched type), and I never leave first gear. The rides are no more than 5 minutes, in full view of the parents, and no operation is performed other than driving in a circle away from streets or cars.
And if I were driving my Grandkids around, I would darn well expect that other people may voice their concern once, but then butt out. It does not rise to the level of child endangerment or neglect, therefore it falls under the purview of Parent's choice. My life is so much richer for the memories I have of my Dad / Uncles taking me for rides on just about everything around when I was a kid. And they always took reasonable care and thought it out before just slapping me on something. I just don't know what's happening to us as a society. I, and all my friends I was raised with, had go-carts (which would have easily run right under a car and turned me into hamburger), motorcycles and mini-bikes, (which we jumped, wheelied, and crashed often), BB Guns (that would "put an eye out"), Horses and Mules (that had serious brain damage and would run right under a tree limb), pocket knifes, sticks, slingshots, and other implements of destruction. And our parents, instead of parking us in front of a tv or computer, actually watched us, taught us, lectured and punished us, to assure that nobody was ever seriously injured. And that thing they call the "tapestry" of life, for me, was richer for all the above. I guarantee, that those pictures you took Mike, will be some of your children's most prized possesions when they are older.
And given how much some folks have invested emotionally in your project, and how you DO seem to be moving at a record pace. I thought your April Fools joke was well thought out, and executed well. I've been dumped and destroyed in my life, by a few beautiful girls; but I can still enjoy a good girlfriend joke. And if I was so "scarred" by a past experience as to be unable to differentiate between a joke and my own trauma, I think I'd go to therapy and work out my issues, rather than visit them on you. Just flow with it Mike. See Ya.
Dave
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