I'm A Gamer

When I was a kid growing up in the 60's our neighborhood was a war zone.  We played war in the spring, summer and fall.  I had a hand grenade that you could put a cap in, pull the pin and toss the grenade and it would go pop!  Other weapons in my arsenal included  a pump shotgun that made what then seemed to be a loud blast, but now I realize it was more like a whimpering thwop sound.  We had battle helmets and cap pistols, water balloons even made it as a weapon of war.  You could also hear arguments start that went something like,  Your Dead, followed by No I am Not, followed by You Are Now!  Winter time came and we could not wait till we could build snow forts and stock pile them with pre-made snow balls [ice balls were not allowed according to our Geneva Convention].  Some poor kid always went home with a split lip and bloody nose.  War was fun and when we got sick playing war, we would play spies......  Even organized gym activities had a war theme......Dodge Ball became Doctor Ball, and then it was modified into a game called Vietnam that we played on Saturday mornings down at the YMCA.  If you got hit by a ball and killed, you could be rescued and brought back to life.....  War was Hell back then........but it was FUN!

I love X BOX.  Halo was the coolest thing I ever saw.  Then came Call Of Duty.  I would rather kill foreign bad guys than aliens any day.  Modern Warfare, World At War and my newest addiction is Modern War Fare 2.  I love first person shooter games, they are a way for me to relax after attending local board meetings.  I would have loved to have had the realism of these games when I was a kid.  But I guess I would not appreciate them now if we did not have all those plastic guns back then.  Basically the war games have the same rules of engagement, even capture the flag has found it's way into X BOX games.  Some of the terminology has changed.......Re-spawning is another way of saying brought back to life.  Which brings me to the point I want to make.......Ahhhh Yes.......every blogger has to make a point........just can't tell a story without some lesson hiding in all the words.

As I said earlier, I am a gamer, but I am also a blogger, washed up politician but more importantly I am a Parent.  Being a parent this past week has been HELL.  I have had knots in my stomach that rival any stressful situation that I have ever been in before.  I have talked to other parents who have had the same stress, heartache and disbelief that our children's friend and classmate is dead.  The days have passed, the calling hours and the funeral are over.  Steven is gone forever.  That is the reality of life outside of the fake world of being a gamer.  Life is not a game or a match that can be started over.  There is no button in the real world to re-spawn a life.............As adults we understand the difference between what is reality and what is not.  This needs to be stressed to the not so worldly gamers in our homes!