A Warrior's Legacy

It’s kinda funny how we associate things. There have been plenty of times I have been told to grow up. Honestly, the prospect of growing up always terrified me. Let’s face it, adults suck.  We all know that one person, or squad of people, who are so serious about everything. Not only are these people zealously serious about everything, but they expect you to be as well. Your only saving grace is you don’t have to follow their example. Nevertheless, there will be that dark day when your childhood is dashed on the rocks and needs to be left to rest.

For me, that day came in April. I had spent so much time working I hadn’t realized the Ultimate Warrior had died of a heart attack. It happened a full year before anyone even bothered to tell me. Needless to say, I was a little rattled. Actually, I was a lot rattled. I had to sit down and take a breath. I was literally that shocked.

I’m not the guy who is going to get all bent out of shape over a celebrity death. We heard about plenty of them in 2016, and it seems most of us got through quite nicely. When I say I was rattled and had to have a seat I don’t mean to imply I was all bent out of shape over a person. No, I was more rattled that a hallmark of my youth was forever gone. Sure, I’ve lived long enough to see numerous actors and musicians die in crashes or from overdoses, but the Warrior was the first part of something special that I saw lost.

I can still remember that one time per week when I could get to the television and watch the Warrior sprint down to the ring and shake the ropes with all the might and energy of a titan who sprinkled cocaine on his Cheerios that morning. Even at such a young age I immolated that energy. At the time I had no idea what bodybuilding was, but I could see that was the energy I wanted in my world. Then, enter the nay-sayers.

 Growing up in the household I did was, shall we say, not the home where creativity and free-will were much valued. The old man was a sheet metal worker, who was more a tyrant than anything. Meanwhile my darling mother put on a good show of caring, but ultimately could’ve cared less. My interests in in art were shrugged off. My interests in music were labeled as “garbage”, “noise”, or “shit.” Finally, my interest in physical fitness was deemed as a utter waste of time. Thus, at an early age I relocated to the wonderful world of spending all that energy so I could enrich someone else’s life. Thanks, mom and pop.

This was a theme that persisted for most of my life. But, I’m not here to cry the blues. God knows we never have a shortage of people who will piss and moan about their childhood. Nope, I have a total different purpose. Not just a purpose in writing, but a purpose in life. Now, as a father myself, my purpose is to do everything I can to make sure my own darling, spoiled-as-hell brats know they can take anything and make it worthwhile. Even the smallest of interests, like taking your kid to a wrestling match, can make such a huge difference.

So to you parents, I say you need to see a wrestling match, eat an overcooked omelet, let your hair get done by a 4 year old, sit in on a tea party, take a kid fishing, lift weights, let a 6 year old take your temperature, or play cops and robbers. We, as adults, need to remember that the Ultimate Warrior, Gordon Ramsay, Helwe, Davis Tutera, Jimmy Houston, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ben Carson, and Sheriff David Clarke all were kids once too.

They all had someone supporting them, well, except Arnold. He had to A.W.O.L. from the Army to go to his first competition. But even after he was caught, his commanding officers supported him. They could’ve thrown him in the stockade, or whatever the Austrian Army’s equivalent was, but they supported him. It just goes to show you can never tell what the little, mess-making, snot-nosed, talking-back rug-monster at your feet will grow up to be.

Now, on the anniversary of the Warrior’s death, I am reminded of how my own life progressed. It is an opportunity for me to take inventory and make sure I never tell my own kiddos their idea is “stupid.” I can make sure never to roll my eyes when they come up with an off-the-wall scheme. This is a day to associate my own childhood interests with the way I was raised so I can be sure to encourage my brats to grab their own lives by the horns and take control. This is a time I can remember that energy, though transformed, I want in my life and I want passed on to my kids lives. I leave you with the words of the Ultimate Warrior the last time he was in the ring.

“Every man’s heart one day beats its final beat, his lungs breathe their final breath and if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of others and makes them believe deeper in something larger than life, then his essence, his spirit will be immortalized.”