When I was 12 years old

When I was 12 years old at first I was 5 foot 2 inches tall with size 11 shoes. When I wore my new wingtips to school people laughed at me because my feet were just so big compared to my size. But, this completely changed during that year when I grew 8 inches to 5 foot 10 inches. Talk about uncoordinated from growing too fast. I sprained my ankle about 13 to 20 times during the next year or so playing basketball. However, I learned to fall and "crumple up" after not being able to walk for a week once on a sprained ankle. I would be up for a jump shot up in the air and someone would bang into me which would cause me to sprain my ankle coming back down to earth. So, I learned when this happened to "crumple up" to take the shock off my feet and ankles. I found this useful anytime you fell to keep from all the force hitting any one part of your body and breaking or spraining or pulling something. It has allowed me to fall up to 40 feet at times in my 20s without breaking anything. However, since I'm half Scottish I am big boned so my bones don't usually break like most people's do anyway.

After growing to 5 foot 10 inches tall so suddenly that year my father sat me down because I was not only tall I was also very muscular and strong. He said to me, "Freddie. You can't let anyone get your goat because if you let them anger you and you go into a rage you are going to kill them. You are going to have to be the adult in the room all the time from now on." I listened carefully to him because I knew he was right. I remembered already how people had punched me to test me but if I returned the punch they almost always fell down. It usually ended with this. I was never one to start fights. That wasn't my nature. However, if I was provoked I could end a fight which could be dangerous. By age 15 I was 6 foot 1 inch tall and by my senior year in High School I was 6 foot 3 inches tall and by 22 I was almost 6 foot 5 inches tall.

So, all my life I knew I couldn't ever let loose completely on someone because they might die. So, by age 12 I had learned from my father that I Had to be an adult in any room I was in from then on. Mostly I have been the adult I needed to be.

However part of this thinking in 1960 also stemmed from being given a .22 rifle at age 8 that my father had used since he was about 6 years old for hunting by his mother (my grandmother). So, I had been taught always how to be safe with weapons and told I was also one of the family's protectors now and allowed to store my rifle and bullets in my bedroom starting at age 8. This denoted I was respected by my family and they knew I wouldn't hurt anyone with my weapon. This honor was not given to all boys because even then there were boys not serious enough or adult enough to be given the responsibility of a weapon and bullets. So, from this came my understanding that I was also a weapon and had to protect the world from the potential weapon of my body. So, I learned to think this way starting at age 12 to protect myself and everyone else in my life.

I'm really sorry the world isn't like this anymore in the U.S. in most parts. Because without this self respect people die from not being responsible around weapons. Whether you have a rifle or a pistol or just your body or your bicycle, car, skateboard or whatever, they are all weapons. And if you aren't safe with your body, skateboard, bicycle, motorcycle or car then you are dangerous and someone is going to deal with you eventually maybe in a way you don't want.

So, it isn't just in regard to pistols or rifles, it's the same thing with all these various weapons including knives, crossbows, bows and arrows or whatever and especially all human bodies are weapons.

Thinking like we used to likely would save many many lives both now and in the future.