Insertive

Gun's Quote-of-the-Week:

“When I get a girlfriend, I'm going to be insertive.”
-Erik

Let me introduce you to my brother, Erik.

Erik is a very funny guy, and is also quite tall. He is always popular with the ladies, and every time he comes home, he just leaves again to go hang out with friends. A real social butterfly, Erik is, and a lot of fun to be around.

One of the more humorous components to Erik's personality, at least when he was younger, was his ability to mix-up similar-sounding words in a sentence, resulting in a much different meaning than the one intended. This week's Gun's Quote is a case-in-point of this comical, if even unintentional, personality quirk.

Love ya, Bro!

…and that’s why it’s a Gun’s Quote!

Do

Gun's Quote-of-the-Week:

“We gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face. We must do the thing we think we cannot do.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt

Last week, while casually driving up north to meet my parents for supper and to get some important paperwork from them, I was traveling up I-435 (the major beltway around Kansas City) only to be passed by some crazy idiot doing about 90-100 mph in his (admittedly beautiful) Silver Porche. He was swerving in and out of traffic, passing people with little care or regard for his or others' safety.

It got the best of him.

I had 911 already dialed into my phone and was talking to the operator before I even got out of my car. This guy lost control of his car, over correcting when he was changing lanes, and flung himself off of the highway, smashing a sign and finally coming to a stop about 150-200 feet down the hill from the road.

I told 911 where we were at, described the car and what had happened, and by the time they asked me if anybody was hurt, had managed to dead-sprint to the now-not-nearly-as-beautifu​l Porche and bang on the glass to see what was going on inside. (Adrenaline is amazing)

Nobody was hurt.

It occurred to me after I was done talking to 911 and done talking to the occupants of this car that I was the only one who ran down from the highway. Plenty of people had stopped, and some before I did, but nobody went to the car.

What if somebody WAS hurt? What if the car flipped and/or was on fire and these occupants needed somebody on the outside to pull them out? Who would have been there to be "that guy?" At this particular moment in fate, it would have been me.

As fate would have it, we get presented with situations where we are alone in the midst of difficult situations. The most obvious example is an emergency, like the one above, but it could also be a friend or family member in need, somebody to be the one that stands up for what is right, or simply the one who grabs the bull by the horns and gets something done.

Life is intimidating (and scary) at times. Nevertheless, we must be willing to stare our fears in the face and say that we will do what needs to be done. Our friends, family, ourselves, and even other people's lives could depend on it. (Sometimes when we least expect it!)

…and that's why it's a Gun's Quote!

Friends

Gun's Quote-of-the-Week:

“You must make friends while you are young, that you may enjoy them when old.”
-Robert E. Lee

Welcome to "The Gun's Quotes!!!"

For those of you who have never seen or heard of them, the premise of the Gun's Quotes is quite simple: Listen to people. If you hear (or read) something that makes you think, it makes you remember your roots, or it causes you to roll on the ground in laughter, write it down and share it with everyone you know, because everyone can benefit from a tidbit of knowledge, wisdom, or a joke or two. I'll also follow up the quote with a little bit of background as to where it came from and why I used it when I did.

This week's quote sums up a very basic, but less obvious, idea. I recently graduated college, and had the pleasure of having the best group of friends a guy could ever ask for while there. (Both at Ferris and at Rolla) Not gonna lie, though, moving back home has been a struggle. While I certainly can appreciate being back home with family, I miss my friends. I find myself gaining appreciation for my Ferris friends after now being gone, much the same as I gained appreciation for my fraternity brothers after I left Rolla to transfer to Ferris.

I have found that my life has changed quite a bit over the course of the last month, with starting a job, moving, and all. Yet, in this transitional time, there are two constants: friends and family. The simple, yet mundane task of moving and starting a job would be so much harder without these groups.

Cherish them. They are one of the only things in life you can truly count on!

…and that's why it's a Gun's Quote!