What’s the why of it? This is the question.

Think of being the smallest child in the family. You have two big brothers, maybe, maybe not. They keep knocking you down, and they say ‘Stay down’.

You get back up.

You start to smile, and yes, sometimes it’s only on one side of your face, but it’s not a half-hearted grin, it’s a smirk.

Sometimes it’s a full-blown grin, and there are a lot of teeth displayed. Do you understand my meaning?

It’s not a display. It’s a willingness to fight. It’s your boxer in the ring, blowing his opponent a kiss. It’s a flick on the nose. Despite your willingness to make me seem small and insignificant, it’s my opportunity to say, ‘Okay. Fuck you too, Have another swing and see where it gets you.’

It’s not cowardice. You will get your diplomatic ones that do not have this little fire inside, They will keep trying to put your fire out. It’s not a physical fire, it’s a mental one, you see?

So, if you give me something to go up against, I’ll go up against it. I’ll circle it, or cross it. I’ll mark it in the sand, and I will say to you, ‘Go ahead, cross this line.’

You should not cross this line. Do not cross this line.

This is why I am telling you this. I’m the diplomatic one here. I’m telling you how it is. It’s a simple process of marking my line in the sand, and you just keep crossing that line.

Why am I not crossing that line? This is my strength that I offer to you. I do not cross the line, but I’ll keep getting up, over and over again. This is what I try to teach my boys.

Be polite.

Be kind, not naive.

Being nervous is okay.

Stand up, step up to the line and smile at your opponent. Use that adrenaline and turn it into a shit-eating grin. That is always the line I wanted to use when I wrote about Jake. Jake was a young man in a fictional story. He was not real, but his legacy is.

‘I feel threatened,’ your opponent thinks. ‘This guy is smiling at me and he has shit in his teeth. This guy (or girl) is saying hello, beautiful, and I think that’s frightening me. Or maybe I think it’s funny because they don’t take me seriously. Or maybe, they know something I don’t, which is often the case in this thought process, or maybe they simply do not give a shit what I do, because they’ll just keep getting back up. I can’t win here.’

Your opponent now has the choice to walk away, give in, or hold out a hand and say he (or she) is sorry. If they don’t then that remains their problem, not yours, because you never started this fight, but you can always finish it.

Here is another very short example. You say bee-sting. I say I have a splinter in my heel that has been there 12 months or more, and it does not concern me. It’s painful. It reminds me I’m alive. Train yourself to remember you’re alive.  

C.S. Capewell

P.S Stop using sticks and start using clicks. Not bait. Just a sound. Just a sound to get your horse to move forward. It’s the exact sound your opponent doesn’t want to hear. Walk on. CSC