I'm a jerk...

I'm a jerk.

For many, this statement needs little or no clarification, as many will feel they have been wronged by either my professional or personal prose, whether it be here, in the pages of the Big Spring Herald, or elsewhere. However, the sentiment remains ... I'm a jerk.

I'm also a dad.

And while this particular title applies to a much smaller field — one emotionally tongue-tied 12-year-old, to be exact — I figure it's as big a part of who I am as anything else. In fact, as my daughter gets older and her pre-teen angst continues to grow, I suppose my role as father continues to grow.

Amidst all of this, I'm also a son.

More than that, I'm a really lucky son. Lucky than most, that's for certain. While most children are thrust upon their parents for whatever reason — maybe they were gifts from God, or maybe they were the 18-year side effect of a weekend party gone-wrong — I was actually chosen by my parents, who adopted me when I was just months old.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm pretty sure they know I'm a jerk, too, and they certainly know I'm a dad. How do i know this? Well, they laugh and giggle at each other every time they see me blow my lid at my daughter because of something silly they most likely saw me do when I was her age. Yes, I'm a son, and, apparently, and a rather entertaining one, to boot.

I'm also an American.

Sure, it goes without saying, right? Don't get me wrong, I'm just as unhappy as most people with the way the government is being run these days, but our system — while in shambles — is still the best system in the world. If you take away the shady politicians and their lobbyists, the partisan politics and our government's tendency to work toward total economic armageddon, is something much, much better than what we have.

I'm a soldier.

I'll always be a soldier. As anyone who has ever stood with their brothers at a military entrance processing station — mine was at Fort Jackson, S.C. — and taken the oath will tell you, the first day you step off that bus you are a changed man or woman. The world stops being about just you (a rather popular idea when you're a teen, as you might have already heard). It's about the soldier standing next to you, and the one standing next to him, and on and on.

Most people grow up then join the military. For me, it happened in a slightly different manner. My father was a career Air Force soldier for more than 20 years, and that meant if you were two minutes past curfew, it was the same as being two hours past curfew. You cleaned your plate, said “yes sir” and “no ma'am,” and you showed respect for your elders.

Now, looking back, it was the best upbringing a boy could have ever asked for.

Each of us is made up of many things, many different personalities, many different people. We're kind-hearted medics when our children have cuts and scrapes, hard-as-nails training instructors when they break the rules. We're a shoulder to lean on when a friend is going through tough times, and we're a baseball bat-toting tough guy when our sister decides to go out with an unsavory character.

So, yeah ... I'm a jerk.