Dog and Gene and Dad and Dames

I enjoy two reality shows on A&E - Dog the Bounty Hunter and Gene Simmons Family Jewels mostly because of the humanity of the men at the center of those shows. Both have the public image as bad asses - Mr Tough as nails bounty hunter and Mr Rock God. But the reality is something very different. Both are creampuffs and I say that in the most complimentary way. Both would take a bullet and die for those they love. Gene has all the reason in the world to be an egocentric egomaniac (or he aspires to be) but his basic decency betrays him everytime. He talks a big game but we all know that its not about him at all. Sure he has surrounded himself with the trappings of the rock star lifestyle but his "currency" or what he values most are Shannon and the kids. For all the groupies that he has met in his life she is the one girl who just isn't impressed with what he does or has done - she could have had her pick of anyone (like she has said it was Paul Stanley that she had the crush on when she first met Kiss) and Gene is certainly no prize pig at the fair if you catch my meaning. Sure the tongue is legendary and we all kow that if you do the work down in the trenches then the ladies always come back for more but any mutt can lick pussy...its just about the committment...putting in the time and not leaving the job site until the work is done. He allows her, her sister and the kids to make the fool of him and he gladly plays that role with them but more importantly FOR them. Its what every man wants to be to his family - provider but also the safe place to fall. My dad has alot of those qualities.(see above -he soooo looked like a movie star) He was a soldier for 32 years trained to kill but his children could never do anything he wouldn't support. And he had reason to try to mould us into something he wanted but he never did that. The first car I ever had he bought me and we made it look like Herbie the Love Bug. He had a son who loved to collect action figures and comics but instead of putting it down he more than encouraged it. He might not have known his McFarlane Figures from his Marvel Select but that didn't mean he wouldn't ask about them and listen to me when I talked toys. And given the kind of individual I am and my obstinant nature he knew that breaking my spirit was not gonna work as the core of his parenting philosophy. We always said in my family that "mom told it like it was" (even if you didn't want to hear it) but "dad told it like it could be." For similar reasons I admire Dog Chapman. He was in prison. He made alot of mistakes in his life but he turned it around to make a difference in this world. As a bounty hunter he has to deal with the humps of the world but he has enough love in his heart to try to turn them around in the short time he has with them after they are captured. He could be a prick but that would only create more damage in the world. Dog is a healer and we have need for heroes like that in this world more than ever now. Dog's wife Beth may act all tough but she is the steel that hold that house together. Part den mother and all pit bull to her 'boys'. She is an adult and the one person you would want with you when the shit goes down as it has for Dog in the past couple of years. He couldn't do what he does without the foundation she provides him with. They say the Lioness choses the Lion. King of the Jungle? Bullshit. Both Beth and Shannon make their men better, they challenge them to be who they were destined to be and I would trade the world for someone in my life like that. An old Klingon proverb holds that "we do not have the luxury of choosing the women we fall in love with." We just have to hope that they choose us cause without them we are nothing but rutting apes. I wish more men understood that.