Dog Brothers Public Forum

I think of my initial experience Dog Brother Gathering in three parts.  The first is "the process", the time, money and effort to train and ready oneself to fight at the Gathering.  But I suppose the most critical factor is "the why?".  Lacking any tangible rewards or incentives versus the real possibility of injury,  why do it?  Maybe it's an atavistic pull as when we crane our necks skyward to watch the geese pass in autumn or how the howl of the wolf in the wild stiffens us.  It could be the longing to return to a time when to stand as a man of charactor was the mean and sum of all things good.  I saw those traits in the eyes of those whom I was to cross arms with at the Gathering.  As for my own reasons, upon seeing video tape of the Gathering I somehow just "got it".  I left the drugs and drink to do this thing, to get there and stand with others of like mind, to fight and to heal myself.   The second part is the fight itself.  To stand upon that stage, alone, unalloyed and close with another without anger or hatred for those two minutes of terrible beauty unencumbered by the excesses and prevarications of modernity is to look, really look, into ones' soul and find the true meaning of "sinn fein".  Some have spoken of facing their fears, I have never been that wise.  For me it was like the conclusion of a long and bitter journey and the joy of the return to home.  Maybe the return of the broken vessel who finds redemption and is made whole again.  The third part is usually left unsaid but perhaps most poignant.  We return to our homes, changed, renewed and try to live as examples to those around us.  Maybe we show that to live as good and honorable men we need not abandon our manhood, by honoring and acknowledging the spirit of our past we provide a window that the young men of today may glimpse that what once was can indeed provide a way to reconcile our world and live in peace within it.    Maybe it's just what Poi Dog laughingly once said to me,  "I don't try to explain anymore,  I just tell'em I like to hit people".  Randall Gregory  Chef/Prodigal Son