If it wasn’t for gents like Dennis Rogers, Bud Jeffries, Pat Povalitis and Slim the Hammerman then I nor any of these other gents would be doing what we love.
It is dear to my heart to always pay respect to those that have lead the way for me to follow. Unfortunately many of the “new breed” as I call them have either no manners or just don’t care about being respectful to the elders that have been there done that long before most of us were even born.
I see this a lot in the MMA world, boxing and even the Old-time Strongman world. Instead of being great representatives of our mentors/teachers many supposed Gents have nothing but big mouths and carry themselves like clowns. This is really sad and not only makes the person acting this way look like a tool but it also makes their mentor look bad as well.
There seems to be a growing trend that the more idiotic and brash you act the more notice you will get. I see guys all the time running their mouth, with every other word being a cuss word, grown men acting like a big bunch of babies and men that don’t have a clue how to be a gentleman and use a little tact when they speak.
What happened to building our character to be a stronger man? A stronger man is not just someone that is physically powerful. A strongman is a person that pays honor to those that started their craft long before we got involved. Paying respect to those that lead the way is being a good student, opening your ears and shutting your mouth when an elder of the game speaks is paying your respect to that person.
Asking questions of these elders is a great way for you to gain wisdom and improve your game or art.
Walking around with your attitude on your sleeve and an ego the size of a city is not the way, if anything you will draw unwanted attention to yourself that in the long run will only hurt your career. Talking bad in public about a legend on forums and other media outlets only shows your insecurity and lack of respect to the men that started it all.
If you know it all, then why is it when you come face to face with one of the greats, the first thing you do is get in line to get an autograph and a picture taken with the very man you spoke badly about?
Where did all your intensity and bravado go?
Did you suddenly have a change of heart?
If it wasn’t for those that lead the way I would not be able to live my dream (performing and running my gym) and do what I love. Many of us in my field would never have thought about bending horseshoes, spikes, rolling frying pans, tearing books and decks of cards or levering hammers.
The way we learned about these things was from the legends that became successful and passed their knowledge down to those that wanted to learn.
If you are a goal setter and break one of the Legends records in your given field by all means be proud and celebrate but I suggest you be a man of honor and tact and pay respect to the men that inspired you to try it out in the first place.
