Why I'll Never Be Governor

What DID I Write in Those College Papers?...

No, it's probably not going to be my academics that get me disqualified, and no, I have nothing like Chappaquiddick in my past either, but there was the time the kid down the road and I decided to make our own napalm...

In those pre-internet days it was not that easy to come up with the recipe for lethal substances either but somehow we came up with it. In high school there are few boundaries that can't be overcome and I remember mixing... no, I'm NOT going to give the recipe to any 'dangerous' [1.] homeschoolers so they can soup up their potato bazookas!!! We had our mixture in a peanut butter jar and decided to set it off as we headed off for a weekend camping at the beach. Very early in the morning, before the dawn awakened, we slopped our concoction in the middle of Maryland Route 32 and lit it. Nice show!

Of course our desire to avoid really damaging anything led us to the largest patch of unburnable ground we could find [road surface] and as the fire went out we beat a hasty retreat towards Ocean City and the joys of Summer at the beach campground.

Our group also had a rich heritage. A lot of us were proud of our Civil War ancestors and we even had mock battles on the playground in elementary school. When your Great Grandfather distinguished himself defending Memphis from the Northern armies it is only natural for you to own a Confederate battle flag, right? Well, obviously that disqualifies me from any serious consideration as a candidate! Our playground battles squared off under the flags of the forefathers we had heard stories of.

We grew up. We got older. and hopefully wiser. I hope the statute of limitations has run out on the napalm thing.. the point is, we're flawed. The question is how we grow in light of that reality.