"No Biking On Holidays"

400 Million? 400 Million? Did you say 400 Million? And this, isn't even, a lottery prize or the salary of a CEO from one of those corrupt banks on Wall Street. No, my dear, this, is the amount of money, that the city of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina may lose out on this Memorial Day holiday all because they are saying no to "The Black Bikers weekend" event. Well say it isn't so! But why would anyone be surprised when some of our aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and yes even grandparents have chosen to act a fool all in the name of fun! Now you can call me conservative. Or even a prude. Call me, whatever you so choose but before you finish reading this post at least you'll call me honest. For the life of me I can't understand why anyone would question the decision of residents who live in a community and pay taxes who try and stop an event don't have that right too. Especially when those residents see their poor town become mass destruction to the highest degree. What once was the pride of a city has become complete mayhem. And again, I say, all..in..the name..of fun! And yet supporters are crying that this is not what the weekend represents. Hmmmmm, I get it, so it's about peace and joy. Or as one biker put it,it's about other biker groups bonding and networking with one another, it's about showing off their Mercedes Benz, BMW, priced recreation vehicles, or sharing mechanical and maintenance tips and doing a little competitive racing and blah..blah..blah...blah. I get it! And while I understand the honest intent of those who earnestly believe that I know otherwise because I've attended. Well, unfortunately, alot, but not all of what you see isn't that. If it was, the community wouldn't take the chance on losing the type of dollars that I'm sure they desperately need. On the contrary, for many (again not all) of the men and women who go know exactly what this weekend offers: alot of flash, parties, nudity, drinking, sex, rawness, and yes, the opportunity to act like complete fools. Almost like what happens in Vegas....well, you know the rest. And for those who may see my thoughts as outdated or smug I'll say this. I have no problem embracing groups or organizations that choose to join because they have every right to (it's under the Constitution) but what I do have a problem with are those who question the choices of others when they don't agree. Let me put it more clearly, if I owned a house for 30+ years and had perfect strangers yelling and screaming outside of my house all hours of the night I'd have a problem too. Wake up people, this is not about race, or color or anything other than respect something that I pray many of those aunts and cousins I talked about will do. Until then, accept the fact that some folks will judge you not just by your words but by your actions and right now some just need to get their acts together. Perhaps in dew season they will.