Belligerence & Badassery

“On the Nature of Belligerence and Badassery”

Webster defines belligerence as:

bel•lig•er•ence
–noun
1. a warlike or aggressively hostile nature, condition, or attitude.
2. an act of carrying on war; warfare.

Badassery doesn’t even have an entry.
So, fuck Webster.

Belligerence and badassery are a state of being, a principal to live by.
One fuels the other.
You can’t define what you feel, what you live.
You can only try to explain what it is.
Definition and explanation are two different things.
Ask Socrates and Plato.

What is belligerence?
It is the red haze you see when you’re pissed off,
It is the boiling blood running through your veins.
It is the dead in your eyes.
It is the sarcastic destruction you want to unleash.
It is the numbing hatred you feel for your enemies.
It is the preverbal middle finger ever extended.
It is the call to not go silently into the night.
It is the willingness to always move forward.
It is the popular rebellion in the name of progress.
It is the Spartan motto of “Never retreat, never surrender.”
It is the iron hard will to never bend to those who oppress you.
It is the look that tells a man to go to hell and makes him look forward to the trip.
It is the bludgeoning stare that could destroy middle schoolers.
It is the grimace of a man life kicked hard in the nuts and still asks for another.
It is the vibrant lust for violence that flushes your cheeks.
It is the peaceful tranquility of laughing at the bleakest odds.
It is the blunt, unsheathed blade of angry truth.
It is the fuel, the essence of badassery.

What is badassery?
It is the drunken swagger of Captain Jack Sparrow.
It is the stone cold gaze of Dirty Harry.
It is the “little friend” of Tony “Scarface” Montana.
It is the steel biceps of Conan the Barbarian.
It is the cocky repertoire of Han Solo.
It is the unrefusable deal of Don Corleone.
It is the unyielding rage of Leonidas.
It is the steadfast leadership of FDR.
It is the ten million descendants of Genghis Khan.
It is the ballet casting of Susan B. Anthony.
It is the promise to return of General MacArthur.
It is the peaceful protest of Martin Luther King Jr.
It is the veil ripping of W.E.B. Du Bois.
It is the laughing zen of Buddha.
It is the endless wisdom of God.
It is the Boondock Saint deep within us all.

On the nature of belligerence and badassery:
You don’t put up with shit, you deal with it.
You don’t avoid conflict, you embrace it.
You don’t just feel it, you live it.
You don’t become it, you are it.

You don’t like my explanation?
Then take the easy way out.
It ain’t easy to be a belligerent bad-ass.
As for me,
I’ll swagger, glare, protest, and rage until I die.
For I am a disciple of belligerence and badassery.