What Happened to Our 

Fighting Spirit?

In the wake of the terrorist attack at the “Pulse” night club in Orlando and the other terrorist attack at a Christmas party in San Bernardino, one thing seems to stand out, no one tried to attack the terrorist.

To some this may sound absurd but it isn’t really. Some may say, “but he had a gun.” Yes, and no one else did, good point but that doesn’t mean you are defenseless. I agree that one bad guy with a gun can hold a large crowd at bay because no one wants to be the first one to be shot, but once said bad guy starts shooting you can pretty much assume he does not just want to hold you at bay, he wants to kill you.

There seems to be a mindset in this country that self-defense is bad. But self-defense is necessary sometimes. Some would say that self-defense is a form of violence and that violence is bad. Some think that all the people of the world should hold hands and sing Kumbaya, maybe so, but it will never happen. There are very evil people in the world and always have been. How you deal with evil is the key.

It’s no surprise that our mindset is that of sheep. Since the “skyjackings” of the late sixties and early seventies we’ve been taught not to resist, to comply with the hijackers, take a ride, and have some stories to tell the grandkids. That did not work out too well on 911.

If you are held up or mugged we are told not to resist. Your wallet or money is not worth your life, but how many people have been killed after giving up their valuables? You just do not know what is in the mind of the bad guy.

Even our laws in New Jersey train us to be sheep. The law reads something like this:

“A deadly force is not justifiable when an opportunity to retreat with complete safety is known by the defender to be at hand. The use of such force is not justifiable if the defender knew that it could have been avoided with complete safety to himself by retreating. Where these conditions are present, the defender has a duty to retreat, and his use of a deadly force under these circumstances cannot be justified as an act of self-defense.”

I have a “DUTY” to retreat. I have to put my tail between my legs and run from my own home while this guy steals everything I’ve worked 10 hours of overtime a week for three years to afford.

Going back to Orlando for a moment. There were three hundred people in the place, it was 2:00 a.m., and it seems safe to assume that most people had a good buzz going. This guy starts to shoot up the place. Then there was fear where there should have been anger. How dare you ruin my buzz that I’ve worked hours to achieve not to mention the money I’ve just spent. Did no one send a beer bottle hurtling in his direction? I would have. It’s pretty hard to shoot after you’ve been smacked in the puss buy a beer bottle. Now imagine 300 beer bottles, or wine bottles or chairs or a combination of all of the above going in his direction. The crowd could then rush him and stomp him to death, or better still, kick the crap out of him, take him to a back room and indoctrinate him into the LGBT community. Oh, and take lots of pictures and post them on the internet for all of his terrorist buddies to see with a message; This will be the fate of all who dare to attack us, or something to that effect.

Sound too violent? Well it’s better than dying cowering in the toilet.

Joe Bayona

No Respect!

The Ambler is back with some sad thoughts. Respect for others is at a lost in many places and no matter where I amble I am faced with actions of disrespect. It all started when I was leaving and buying some stuff in a supermarket, I only had two items and went into the express lane (10 items or less). I waited a while and saw two folks ahead of me: a lady with at least 20 items and told the clerk to check her out and then did not put the items in her cart –the clerk had to do it. She then proceeded to slowly take out her cards and stuff and finally check out. Those ahead of me told her to please hurry up as that is why they were in the express line.  She stuck out her tongue and left. Bad start – no respect there.

I proceeded to let a person pull out of a parking space only to be horn honked and several cars passed me and almost hit the leaving car.  No respect there.

The Ambler drives as he ambles — slow in the right hand lane at 65miles/hr or the speed limit, driving fast is not my thing: the result – horn honking and some strange gestures as angry folks passed me. No respect there.

The Ambler likes to fish and this was the object of his vacation, but trouble again.  As I fished several boats roared by me in the no wake area and there was a single like surf board person behind landing on the wake causing a big splash. It is called I believe “Wake Boarding” but the wake caused my boat to rock like a storm was passing. Again and again  this happened and the wake boarder landed by me and said Ho Ho! I was upset as my fishing tackle almost left the boat and my lunch did.  My sandwich floated in his wake.  Again he said Ho Ho!.  The next time he almost sunk a gray haired lady in a kayak who I let paddle in front of me, it was time for me to take action.  He came flying back and when he landed in front of me– I struck back — “You damn poltroon” I called him (Quoting George Washington at Monmouth). He stopped a bit ahead of me and looked puzzled, I did not see him for the rest of the day (perhaps he was checking a dictionary).

There was hope — the local pub has wing night, 30 cents a wing and I like wings but when I got there I found no parking so I tried the little diner next door with plenty of parking. Way back by the dumpster there was plenty of room and after I ate I could look into the dumpster (remember the Ambler likes trash) but as I got out of my car the diner owner said “get out of here you can’t park there unless you eat here.” I was feeling down — no respect there so I tried the pub lot again and got a spot. Inside I found a table and sat down and next to me was an open 4 seat table. Within minutes a lady asked me if she and her husband could sit there.  Of course I said, and we ordered wings. The place was packed and the only seats that were next to them. We started to talk and they lived in the area and had two children in the U.S. Navel Academy. The husband told me he went to church sometimes twice a week. I had met some nice respectful people so of course I asked about how they handled their garbage.  It seems that the area has no garbage system they must use a private system, they get so many special bags and must buy more if they use up their allotted amount. Other trash such as furniture, appliances etc. cost a lot more. Recyclables are free so they are careful and save some room in the bags. The bags are placed in trash cans with screw on tops (like a jar) because bears and raccoons cannot open them “yet.” Wow we here are lucky!  Then it happened a women came up to their table and said are you “done eating” can we sit next to you until you are finished?  I said you have dozen wings to eat yet!  They got up and smiled and said they would eat them for lunch tomorrow and thanked me for the conversation, paid their bill and left. The other couple brought others to the table and said you are almost done aren’t you?  I said, “Yep!” and I left – also geeeze no respect!!

The next day I fished in a shallow area where wake boarders could not go and really was not catching anything. I looked around and saw two gulls eating a dead fish on a swim float and noticed some movement in an Adirondack chair.  I looked carefully and saw an adult male bald eagle sitting in the chair. The eagle was sitting up and looked like the symbol of our country that he was. His white head shined in the sun and he just surveyed his area like a king on a thrown. Wow, that showed me something, what respect he commanded. He then flew over to the gulls and took their fish and brought it to the chair and ate it. He stole the gull’s food!  The Ambler just cannot find any respect.

Amboy Ambler II