Is bad good?

I ran into some bike riders the other day. I remember a biker and his biker chick were decked out in some rather nice looking leathers. I know he had some facial hair, but otherwise they looked rather nicely kept. While they looked “bad,” I could easily imagine them riding to a Cary home and slipping into a six-figure income corporate lifestyle during the week. I’m not sure this was his bike, but one there had a personalized plate that read “abadboy.”
I guess the seeming to be putting on a “bad” persona struck me. I don’t know that these are good or bad people, but they want to at least look like “bad” people for an afternoon.
I don’t have a problem with bikers. My half brother has spent much more time on two wheels than four, though he’s slowing down a bit. Being on two wheels set him apart, and to some extent, classified him as a maverick. He didn’t want to fit in, and maybe he wanted to seem a little dangerous. He wanted to be “a bad boy.”
Over the years I’ve hung around Phil and his friends some. Most of them seemed to be pretty decent people.
Phillip was a machinist in a jet engine plant for General Electric for many years. He did a good job and was a dependable employee. He retired some years back with enough to live comfortably for many years to come.
Alcoholism was a part of being that bad boy. Fortunately, he has put alcohol out of his life.
Let me move to the world of professional football.
It seems if you are a 300 lb. offensive lineman, you have got to have a barbed wire tattoo on your bicep. I think it makes you look like a “bad” offensive lineman. If you are a “bad” offensive lineman, are you respected, maybe even feared. Or maybe not.
Are “bad” football players good football players? Maybe of all the teams in football, Oakland has cultivated an image of “bad boys.” This particular last season, they were sorry.
Some teams have gone after some players of questionable character, hoping to use their considerable talents, despite the baggage. Athletes have seemingly over the years gotten passes often, and indiscretions were ignored if not tolerated.
Both the NBA and the NFL have recently taken strong stands against “bad boy” behavior.
There are many on the football field who capture our attention and our idolatry. We are inspired by those who battle the odds, who seize victory from the jaws of defeat. We are inspired by the heroic fight, particularly when it results in victory, but sometimes even in defeat.
We root for the underdog and against the favorite. We applaud the weakling who triumphs over the bully, the David over the Goliath. We applaud the solitary struggle, the noble cause, and those who work to set things right.
There is something very different, though, about William Wallace of Braveheart fame and the “bad” persona that some people put on.
There is a manly persona, a warrior persona, that is part of who we are supposed to be, at least in my book. We are not suppose to wimp out
As I have commented before, I make no apologies for some prejudices that I grew up with. Good guys wore white hats, and they didn’t have facial hair or tattoos. If you wear a black hat or grow facial hair, or got a tattoo while you were in the Navy, I’ll probably get over it, but initially I’m going to be a bit put off by it.
Some people feel it is necessary to look “bad” for whatever reason. I went without shaving one Saturday recently. My wife gave me a hard time the other day for not showering when I came in from yard work. Sorry, but that’s about as “bad” as I get.
While my picture here shows me in a suit and tie, those I work with will tell you I seldom wear that to work. Maybe it gets the column a bit more respect. I did wear rather formal attire one day not too long ago, and my office manager commented about how nice I looked. Maybe I aught to wear something nicer more often?
Appearances do make a difference. They make a statement about who we are, and while we may put on a very different persona at times, it speaks about who we are down deep inside. Those we gravitate towards, and the way others will treat us will be affected.
Do you really want to be bad?