I swear, some of them aren't even old enough to shave.

Bear with me. This is going to be a rant.

Three things are going on. Number one, our visitor Will has made me think about the nature of opposition, protest and identity. Number two, Ryan was bitching up a storm about his work's employee rally. And last, I just endured a monster tough night dealing dice, maybe one of my toughest eight hour stints since learning the freaking game nine years ago.

Our Constitution gives everyone the right to bitch. If they feel strongly enough and organize, this bitching becomes a protest. Early American writers from Thomas Paine to Alexander Hamilton to Jefferson to Henry David Thoreau to pick your modern Hunter S. Thompson have captured the essence of the American right and responsibility to bitch and protest. Organized protests against whatever, be it taxation without representation, unjust foreign wars, unjust domestic policies concerning economics, race relations, the environment, what have you, create an identity for that particular generation. My mother is a Kennedy Democrat, a true believer in Camelot still, after 40+ years, two assassinations, and the betrayal of every single seated Democrat in government aged 55 and younger. That is her identity. She didn't need to find it. She was born with it. My father, same age, is an Eisenhower Republican, voted for Nixon both times, a social conservative and a believer in strong foreign policy. That is his identity. He didn't need to find it. Point to any member of the Bund and you'll see who we are and why. No searching. It's found.

Edith Stein told Hemingway a while back that his was "the generation lost." They were the disillusioned veterans of WWI, those left out or behind, caught up in the roaring twenties, lacking identity, lacking vision, lacking a goal. Which proved to be one of the most untrue statements in literary history. Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, to a certain extent John Steinbeck and a host of others I'm not giving credit to or mentioning due to the lateness of the hour and the fact that I'm three beers behind in my comfort buzz, these authors are DEFINED not by the fact that they're lost, but by the fact that THAT WAS WHO THEY WERE. Edith Stein was wrong. They may have been lost in her eyes, and they may have been lost in their own eyes, but that SEARCHING was who they were. If that is who you are, a searcher, a seeker, then great. Remember that. There is no shame in being a searcher or a seeker, for whatever. But by that very definition a searcher or a seeker cannot protest, because they have NO CORE, no definitive sense of identity.

Which brings me to our visitor Will. WELCOME! It is nice to see someone new, someone with a different opinion. Ryan was our resident baby and you've got him beat by a decade and THAT'S NICE. You said on your blog that you were an activist in his early twenties trying to figure out his life. Again, absolutely nothing wrong with that, in no way am I casting a negative judgement on this, thrilled to the point of rapture you take the time to read our blog let alone contribute, but to what are you an activist of, and what are you trying to figure out? I was unable to take the time to read your blog with the depth it deserves. I saw the two posts, one concerning Brown University, (Titus and I attended the University of Wisconsin, Ryan attended both Southern Mississippi and UNLV, and Baddboy attended the University of the United States Military, three branches, drop and give me 500. A degree in Master Sergeant chew your ass in a second, but we keep him under lock and key most the time.)and one concerning your hope in Barack Obama's potential of not being a centrist. Your sheep's clothing analogy dovetailed nicely with the same analogy you used in your "Who is a Christian" articles, especially the second one, haven't seen the promised third yet. Don't get us started on theology. Are you concerned about Barack "selling out?" Not being "left" enough? And if you're trying to figure out your life, how do you KNOW that "left" is okay, proper, or, pardon the pun, right?

Bearing with me? We're one third of the way done.

Ryan was bitching up a STORM about his employee rally he had to attend. In dealing, casino table games lingo, he found it appalling twenty year veterans were being told how to do their jobs by a company run by HR wannabes, Guest Service pukes and anal retentive suits who never pushed a check and couldn't pay a six dollar six. I was bent over, watching my virgin box person lose his mind while our dice game bled directly from the aorta to the tune of 225k (nine o'clock crew) by midnight, listening to my break in stick person ask me how much red I was going to dish out (my answer? Till it was all gone.) and not convert to these no tipping check changing pricks, pondering Ryan's rant of a few days ago, and I had an epiphany. The reason those twenty year vets at places like Caesars, MGM, pick your old casino do what they do? Because it's 1) who they are, and 2) all they're going to be. Being crusty isn't necessarily a good thing. Flexibility, adaptability, the willingness to achieve compromise at a level that does not rob you of your soul, these are necessary in all facets of life. Not just careers. I'm not defending you-ra-ra bullshit rallies, but you are far too young, Ryan, to be crusty. I have socks that have been in the business longer than you. That is not a shot on your ability. That is a shot at your ego. When you've been there long enough to get your name sewn on your shirt, you get to be crusty. Not before.

Which moves us to the nature of opposition, believe it or not. I will admit to a certain sense of anticipation when first reading Will's post. I am somewhat ashamed at the fact that "fresh meat" did cross my mind several times, both at the fact that Will was young and at the fact he was embracing an opinion and belief that was SO different from mine. My almost forty year old mind was honing the debating knives, ready to fillet Will on the grounds of opposition. And the same blown up dice game I just described, (okay, a little later in the night, 2:30, and the bleeding is near 400k now after TWO changes of dice) a second epiphany blinds me. What is BAD about a different opinion? Why can't Will look at the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, look at 12 years of Bush Sr. and Jr.'s administration as abject failures, as mistakes, as policies contrary to our nation's best interests? My answer? He can.

But then he gets to defend his position. And in defending he gets to maintain an open mind to the possibility he's wrong. At the same time I, and all the other Bund members, get to maintain an open mind to the possibility that we're wrong. And in the use of our debating knives, we get to use rational discourse to achieve a shared understanding of a common truth, perhaps a common goal. Which is the whole reason we do this in the first place, right?

So, back to young Will, (does that sound condescending, me referring to Will as "young" Will? I'm checking my caring meter. Nothing.)the activist. I am SO WAITING for your response! Measurable and specific policies that Obama NEVER made in his campaign. You could be his apologist, his defender, his champion. You are the voice of the CHANGE Obama shouted for, then backed away from during his victory speech. Jump in! We'll be nice, I promise. Look at how courteous Titus was, and he's the biggest crap head here!

In the end, the game lost just shy of 500k. For all that sweat equity I put into that game, we may have dropped 2k in the toke box. I think it was less than 1k, but the other salty dealer I had on my crew, Jason, said it was more and I trust him. Only once was I overtly rude to a player, and then promptly committed the unheard of act on a dice game and apologized for offending. (Got $100 toke for that.) I presented myself as a professional even though the entire night SCREAMED for me to lose my mind and go full whig on every asshole on the game, and the asshole sitting box. I didn't, and in the end that made me the better dealer, associate, and human being. Allowing young Will, (I am a pretentious FUCK!) the chance to state his position and defend it gives all of us the same opportunity.

Come on, WILL! We're waiting already!

(Five beers. Solid.)