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Maybe It’s Time to Man The F’Up

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So there are times doing the work I do here that I’m almost ashamed to call it work. Much of it is the benefits and rewards of life in and around motorcycle people, and even with the long hours, it’s good.

Then there are other times, like now, that I find myself in a dark place. A place where it takes all my reserves to hold back the animosity that wells up inside me for the ridiculous antics of the few in our group who still just don’t get it. You know these cats: the rock stars, the tough guys, the greedy bastards, the “I’m too cool for anyone” crew. Sometimes it’s enough to make me sick of the whole damn thing and usually the only way to ease my pain is a long ride alone.

I sat down several times this month, poison pen in hand, ready to let loose about this topic and each time my mind was taken away to other, more important topics of life, and that’s when it hit me; we are not that important. All the bullshit that goes on in the hours of our little lives pales by comparison to the truly significant things in life. Still, we fool ourselves into a heightened sense of self importance to the point that we can’t even remember where it all started. Then one day, the phone rings and you get news that pushes all that out of the way and you just stop caring.

The news that I got was about one of my brothers who has a son and had found out that his boy had a serious illness. Now I’m sure most of you will recognize the name Indian Larry Motorcycles and that shop’s owners, Bobby and Elisa Seeger. Well the boy is their seven year old son, Aidan, and he has been diagnosed with a very aggressive condition called ALD. It’s a disorder in the brain that will require some very serious treatment. Over the past few weeks, I’ve talked to my friend as I’ve seen this break

down his world and it has torn my heart apart. His little boy is an angel and I can’t imagine how hard this must be for him and his wife to bear.

On the other hand, the communities around them both, in and out of the motorcycle world, have sprung into action. There have been benefits and bone marrow drives; everyone is trying to find a way to help out in their time of need. It was in the face of this thing that I realized that all our trivial little plans, our deals and goals, didn’t really matter anymore. Now I don’t want to walk out on life and leave everything behind, but I’m sure as hell less concerned with the egos around me, nor do I feel they deserve anymore of my energy. We all work so hard, the time in life is fleeting for sure but it takes a shock to the system like this to put it right in your face and make you see how small you really are.

So for the time being, I’m gonna put my own childish feelings about who we are and how we act aside and tell you about something that’s really important. Aidan has a posse! This little boy has a facebook page that he looks at constantly. There is a web site dedicated to gathering people who might want to reach out at www.aidanhasaposse.org. After you read this, if you have even a minute in your day that you can spare, go onto his page, add him as a friend, make a sign and send him a picture. This can be the day that they will talk about when we are old men, the day that the world started to care again and when people started to look after one another. There is still time to put away sayings like: “Nobody cares” or “That’s just how people are today,” and be better people ourselves. The things I can tell you about this young boy, my brother Bobby’s little man, is that he has never been too busy to share a story with me, show me something exciting he just learned or to come and say hi to me when I show up. The smile on his face can make you forget your troubles. In many ways, I think he might be the example of how I could be better, maybe how we all could.

We are working on a few things right now with some other cats from the motorcycle industry to benefit Aidan and his family but until then, please go to his facebook page and let him know how many of us are out here pulling for him. Until we can learn these great life lessons from a small boy, man the f’ up, pull yourself together and do what’s right in the world today. Be an example, be a leader, and be a man.

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