(Please check out my forward posting: WEDNESDAY MARCH 7, 2012 GETTING OLD WITHOUT GRACE: THE BRUSSO MENTALITY)
Folks have been talking about the "old white guy" who gave a pounding to another (but younger) passenger who punched him in the facewhile riding an AC Transit bus in Oakland, CA on Feb. 20, 2010. Repeatedly hearing about the incident from people my age has me to believing that what Bruso did, as we as we senior folk collectively view it, what went down on that bus, what actually happened , we are just fine with."Too bad we all can't be strong!" However, given what research I have completed on Mr. Bruso--except for the fact that he has done what was necessary to maintain his strength and that he also served in Vietnam--his resume doesn't sound that good to me: he is no saint, he reportedly has been in prison, is a very tough pug, who is profoundly street social, and who has periods of irrationality; who, in their attempt to remove him, buzzed & high, from an Oakland A's game this year, reportedly was brought to terms himself with a Taser by security officers on August 4, 2009. Although he is a large and hearty rogue, he obviously is not your stock heroic figure. ...You know, folks, I'm thinking that the complete incident is like, "Let the posturing of the loud mouths on this bus commence and may the best thug win!" ...However I, with the addition probably of many other senior men, am in agreement with Bruso's action. The identification exists because of the commonality in grayness: there is a resistance by graying and older men to being profiled as being so frail and so vulnerable that one's ability to potently live an adult male's life has been put out to pasture. Which means in other words, gray can't cut the mustard anymore--I say verb that!...From my observation of this newsey bus scenario, I have the path to the heroic worked out in this way: In the movies is the only place you have a choice of heroes, but in the real world a chance of heroic randomness prevails: You don't always get to choose your best horse, your best wife, your biggest fish, or your best game of golf--control gets lost, life just happens, and the surprisingly unqualified do occasionally gain your great favor which, as I consider it right now, is probably another thesis to add to this blog--Sometimes the irrational happens which is to your best interest, randomly!). Anyhow, although he won't ever make my personal hero list--maybe just a small contribution to the Thomas Bruso Party Fund--my thanks to Mr. Bruso for hopefully making we gray beards look a little more sexy, and to him also for providing fresh material for T-shirts:" Caution! I'm a Strong Old White Guy Whose Mom Just Died!
