Greetings and welcome to the Friday morning nameless I’m Chad the alcoholic and today I want to play the blind elephant game uh that was the the blind elep oh I’m sorry I just woke up so I’m still waking up the blind elephant game that was requested by by the one and only General
Grizwald Grim the the topic that we want to grow blindly to describe Is what is Brotherhood or fraternity or Sisterhood or whatever so that’s the topic that he put out there and uh so let’s see what happens I need a my capping so I decided to do some research um on the the Lord Brotherhood and Fraternity and looking up the atmology and yeah you would think it’s pretty straightforward I mean I mean it sounds pretty straightforward and in some ways it is um so I I started with uh Brotherhood and the Brotherhood definition that I found was um it was something like the the con the condition
Of let me let me look real quick yes okay so Brotherhood was the the condition or the relation between Brothers with the same father or mother so that was Brotherhood uh pretty straightforward um they also used to call it uh earlier than that they they had
A uh a couple different words for it one was Maiden head which is interesting um which makes me think of the Shadow matriarchy um but then you know eventually uh Brotherhood starts to kind of uh evolve the concept of it starts to evolve and they also brought the word fraternity
And so I looked up for fraternity and uh it’s like a Greek word for some ilar similar thing between uh blood relatives but then the universities started using fraternity eventually it started becoming fraternity became very um common thing to be referred to uh that you you might be a part of if if
You were going to college you may become a m member of a fraternity or fraternity whatever but the original um use of Fraternity in America uh in the as it relates to the colleges was it was something that students um this came out and at least what I found it happened in
1776 at William Mary College something like that anyhow it was it was a uh it was um something referred to that that students would utilize so they could talk about secret matters that weren’t um basically maybe weren’t acceptable at at the time to their contemp by their contemporaries whether it was the
Teachers or whatever so they they would start these secret groups and they referred to it as a fraternity so which I thought was interesting because eventually fraternity ends up becoming something so common that um now any Tom Dick Harry or Jane who goes to University becomes a part of
Them which makes me think well there’s no so now what how do I put that if it’s so common and all of the secret things became not secret anymore what then became the secret things so what is the real fraternity and uh so that’s an interesting concept because when the secret things at
University become normalized um when the okay when the secret topics at University that were once discussed in secret Become normalized as the average things we discuss openly with others well what then becomes the the new secret thing that we discuss so that’s a very interesting thing um I’m sure you can decide for yourself kind of what I’m getting at there okay so Brotherhood as someone who’s blindly groping the elephant of
Brotherhood what is it that I see well first I’d go back to the relationship that I actually have with my brother with my blood brother and you know so growing up was uh um I was grateful to have a brother in the house that I had um we were great
Playmates uh he’s two years younger than I am and uh and I always I always looked up to him he was way more put together than I was um he was always more handsome he um was more athletic uh seemed to be more cage uh courageous and
Um and so I always very much looked up to him I also was pretty resentful for many years um as a as a kid with him because uh cuz my perceptions were the measuring stick to become like or anywhere close to like him is impossible and in my perception it
Seemed easy to be him and um of course as you grow older you realize that some of that is just ridiculous and uh the pressures that that he had to deal with as being the brother or being the one who’s you know yeah it’s just like how do you how do you maintain
That so there’s one thing but you know as we got older um and we fought you know we fought um as kids and as adults young adults um and then later as we got to be grown men we haven’t physically fought we’ve argued um we’ve had differences of opinions um and there’s been
Uh a little bit of an Evan flow in the the the the how to put that there’s been an EV and flow in the the the volume that we communicate with so we’re not always we don’t talk as much as we used to and um it takes effort I mean he he lives
Like 4 hours 5 hours away and so I really you know we have to work at staying connected um I do believe if we lived in the same town or even closer we would be we would be um in contact with each other probably several times a
Week but so that’s my first experience with a Brotherhood and and my brother and I have mirrored each other in many ways um a lot of monkey see monkey do you know and I feel probably more connected with Him than I do anybody else so that’s yeah that’s my first connection with the Brotherhood there’s a what I hope is a undying bond between us we have um I have um also a half brother and a half sister and step sister and and I love them very
Much the connection is it’s I just have to be honest it’s just different you know my brother and I grew up in the same home uh we had the same blood parents uh we had the same path through Through um growing up right so they lived in the same houses we lived with Mom’s boyfriends we had you know our mom’s boyfriend yeah boyfriends there’s a couple of them and so we we’re very bonded in that way um the second um experience I have with the Brotherhood was through through music
And in bands so I have a buddy Kevin who we ended up we we we went to high school together and we were both strange people in that school because you know he had long hair wore metallic shirts and smoked cigarettes and and uh and had I smoked cigarettes
And listen to Metallica and play guitar and so did Kevin and we bonded over that and he would have you know I would have certain parts of Metallica songs that I could play on guitar though I couldn’t play the entire song and and then Kevin would have like
The other parts of those songs but couldn’t play the the parts that I had so we had this bonding thing where we could smoke cigarettes and play guitar and develop this this relationship and I still talk with Kevin today though not as much as I’d like he too lives many hours
Away but we had um lots of up and downs and he’s much more elastic and durble than I I ever was as a friend he put up with a lot of [ __ ] from me and so we we that’s uh that’s another Brotherhood that that has not severed the other Brotherhood was
Another band that I was in this one was with guys that I did grow close with very close with with my uh my drummer Chris I call him my drummer but he was more like uh he was younger than I was but he was much more
Like a older brother and he was very orderly very conscientious um he taught me things like if we’re going to make flyers for shows you know cuz you would make like these flyers and go and pass them out places and would go to like Kinkos or
Whatever Office Max and and make a flyer that had like nine flyers on one sheet and then you go and you cut them with scissors and I would just go and I’d just cut them willy-nilly you know like not perfect like he would be like no if you can’t make these things cut
Them on the lines make them nice like otherwise there’s no point so this is the kind of character he was is and uh very very driven very loving but his loving manner was much more like like I said like an older brother but sorry that’s I’m not picking my nose I’m scratching
It he was uh he is almost like he kind of reminds me of when I hear people say my dad never told me he loved me like he has that quality where obviously he would say you know he would he would let you know that he loves you
But wasn’t like he would go out of his way to tell you he loves you so he’s he’s great so there’s a quality that uh or there’s another Brotherhood now through that Brotherhood it became a a very Dynamic Brotherhood because we had other bands that we were hanging out with and
Encouraging and working with and they were doing the same with us and that was a Brotherhood too was like this music scene where we um we started to build relationships and and uh things like this and so that that was like the the the way that the
Brotherhood within my band at that time would fractal out into this bigger Brotherhood and and to be honest you know I I don’t like I have Chris’s number and I I talk with him though not as much as I would like and I have Kip’s number though I don’t talk with him as
Much as I’d like um he was the drummer Kip was the drummer of the other band um band Bound for severance dude those guys are you kidding me man it was like we would we were all writing our own music and and Performing these songs
And so we would go and see Bound for severance with Derek and Jimmy and Kip and Tristan and those guys were killing it I mean they were just so good and it would make us want to be better so we would go in the wood shop and start whittling away and we would
Make these new songs and and we were kind of surprised at how these new songs were sounding it was like these are like this is like just at our capacity to be able to create and play and so they help push us to the Limit and then we would get those
Sarms uh that that new song or two we would get them locked in and then then at the next show we would play them and the guys from Bound for severance Bound for severance Kip Derek Tristan and Jimmy would come up to us just be like dude
That was ridiculous like that was great and then and then they would go into the wood shop and they they would be whittling away at the next set of couple song here or there and uh and they would just kill it dude and so we were just doing this back
And forth this back and forth thing and and um that was a real Dynamic Brotherhood and we would go to we would have barbecues and hang out and stuff and um but so the relationships of that Brotherhood have not endured in the same way but the ethic has and some of that ethic
Or pattern is something that I feel kind of in um in the TLC right and the in this slow Corner like that that D Dynamic of um you might say it’s competition but it’s not I mean CU you you think like competition is like I win you lose that’s not exactly that’s not right so not to say it’s wrong it’s just it doesn’t describe what this is
But like some of the some of the Brotherhood that I feel around the corner is um when somebody does something or brings something beautiful and thought-provoking to the table or or really funny or or there’s like a this quality about it that is exciting and you’re like wow that’s that’s really
Something man it makes me want to to to to do better and so that’s that back and forth thing that happens where we encourage each other through through our offerings and participation and and so that’s that quality came from the music scene that I was a part of and
That’s what I try to do with this and I really love it I love it a lot like if I on the Grim grizz’s show they have all these brandings that’s kind of like that you know it’s like oh like what can I do with this next branding what kind of creative things
That can I bring to the table here that will be hopefully strike Maybe funny maybe not funny maybe it be maybe it would be particularly serious and kind of chilling or you know how can I make this collage of images and this mashup of music that I’m trying to get
Together and how can I make all that come together to fit inside the bounds of a grim Grizz branding for the virtually not alone Network and that’s a fun creative um process and then and then I upload it and maybe he uses it maybe he doesn’t right but
Then somebody else and they they’ll go out and they’ll make one you know like Nathaniel makes great ones and they all do Nathaniel upcycle and and um um MCM and and uh who’s the the other R how is making them now and cheapers know I’m leaving somebody off
The table here which is bothering me um oh do made made some uh the the person with that made one with the Deep figs that is awesome we should talk because I think it’d be fun to do some of that but everybody has their own little contribution and it’s just this
Interesting thing and it’s when you feel the call of inspiration and then you start to make that or you start to To to take inspiration and and turn it into a fruit or bring it to fruition that is all part of this Brotherhood um so I mean like yeah cuz even at our Estuary meeting I talking to one of my one of my friends that’s the other Brotherhood I mean I
Should can’t really leave that off the table right like the the the Brotherhood I feel with um the the people I know in in my recovery circles that is that’s been a Brotherhood that’s been developing for 10 years which is insane when I think about it cuz I’ve not done
Anything for 10 years other than um not die right the only other thing I’ve done ra other than not die for the last 10 years has been um staying connected to my recovery community so or being a brother right that’s or a son so yeah those that’s a deep
Brotherhood and that’s one that is wrapped up in participation and sacrifice and love and care and um annoyance that’s that’s a lot more close to like an actual the actual Brotherhood I have with my brother Michael so yeah that yeah and so it’s interesting when we had
The EST dinner the other night I had a couple friends from AA come over and they were sitting in on the on the Estuary meeting and participating and they’re like yeah it was kind of cool you know but like it that to me was the that was the saltwater clean water
Mixture like but it was like two Salt Waters they’re like but they seem to work so so yeah whoa that was a bird or a bat I have massive chills right now dude there’s a big ass bat that just flew through here that is a thrill oh dude like my body is buzzing
Hardcore right now thank you so yeah that’s my uh that’s my blind elephant game grope of the idea of Brotherhood and fraternity so yep thanks Bye [Applause] W [Applause] every you walk at Shadow off your own Fo you me beneficial me ter the way and [Applause] Why die Now I know it’s now we tou looking brand new but not t enough so we go unus I know the that point looking brand new but up so it Goes rip both these for I you know this down one tou looking brand new but not that touch s off so we’re on you you know it’s that one t looking brand new but now that t take it off so we could yeah here it goes By [Applause] Oh
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