I sometimes feel like writing about topics that are more lighthearted and varied than just dealing with firearm or self defense topics to work on writing skills, and I’ll occasionally type out brainstorms that come to mind. The latest that came to mind are there are many influences growing up that shape who we are. Role models, heroes, and imagination all played a part in the lives of many of us growing up. Heroes were different then it seems, as technology and media change values and attention spans. Indiana Jones, Han Solo, and Duke and Hawk from GI Joe are making a comeback with my boys, but not all boys have had the fortune of having parents who are trying to instill those types of memories in their kids. 
I always found role models and values in books that I read as well. I was considered a bookworm growing up, and if I wasn’t out in the backyard pretending to have an adventure, playing with the GI Joes, Legos, and Star Wars toys, I was likely curled up in a corner or sitting in a tree reading a book. The books taught me a lot, such as chivalry, perseverance, always doing your best. From the Hardy Boys to Star Wars again to The Chronicles of Narnia, I always had a character I wanted to be. 
I grew older as we all do, and the toys went into the closet to wait for my kids. Some of the books did too, but the great thing is that there were always new books to get into. There were books about history and war, books on the outdoors and hunting, books on Boy Scouts and Scouting, and more books with characters that had character. There are still some that I even read to this day in an age where it is difficult to find time away from a computer, work, or family. A couple books of short stories from Louis L’Amour I’ve found time to read a few times, as they don’t take long. Set in the World War II era, West From Singapore and Night Over the Solomons are written in the sometimes cheesy, fantastical pulp fiction genre that is not really any different than the predictability of some TV and movie film plots of today. But I love reading them, and they take me away to an old freighter in the South Pacific with a Colt 1911 under my arm in a shoulder holster, or flying a modified cargo plane near the Amazon hiking to rescue a pretty girl and using my wits and a carbine against Nazi sympathizers.
I find myself agreeing with Pongo Jim or Turk Madden as they fight to do what they know is right, even though they don’t need to or it will cause them hardship. And after the story is done, and the ship is sailing on to the next port or the cargo amphibian is flying off into the sky after the mission is done, the values the hero has exhibited in putting others above himself are the same that I try to exhibit day to day and to teach my own kids to exhibit as they treat others as they wish to be treated. I’m glad I grew up with books, and that I still can have a bit of fun reading some of what I grew up with, and remembering some of the old time values that books and movies tried to instill in us as to how the good guys acted. 
I think it might be time to break one out for one of the boys… 
1032solutions 