[Rick Lee]

This makes me think of a few things my parents pounded into my head many yrs. ago. I was about five when my dad first took me to the range to shoot and I could fully field strip his 1911 by the time I was eight. Younger than that and it's too hard to rack the slide back.

Chivalry around the ladies was something I really hated while growing up. I certainly had no problem acting that way around adults, but I thought it was a bit silly to let all the eight yr. old girls get on the bus before me, even when we got to the stop at varying times. Anyway, the chivalry thing certainly helps get the ladies later in life.

One of the best lessons, which I didn't really believe when my dad started telling me, was "Life if not fair". In fact, I think a good bit of the injustice in the world is a direct result of idiots trying to circumvent this immutable law of life and make it "fairer" for some but not for others. Once someone has really learned this lesson and believes it, I think they're probably an adult.

Personal responsibility was another big one. Our nextdoor neighbors in TX never ever thought their son was responsible for anything (believe me, he was). All the trouble he and I ever got into got me spanked and him told it was someone else's fault. Even when we were both accused of something I or we really didn't do, my parents still made me go offer to pay for whatever was broken or apologize to his parents. I really hated that.

Starkest example of the difference between our parents was when my dad came home one day to find the neighbors' son hitting golf balls toward our house. My dad told him to change directions toward the huge field away from both our houses. An hour later my dad came out to find a hole in his windshield with a monogrammed golf ball on his driver's seat. Monogram matched the initials of the kid's father and my dad had just told him to knock it off. Not only did he deny doing it, his parents backed him up!!!!!!