The Real Tragedy of Life with Ed Franklin

Hey, welcome back to the show. I’m here today with Ed Franklin. Ed, how the hell are you, man?

I’m doing fantastic. How are you?

If I were any better, I’d be twins, I swear to God.

Look at you.

Hey, Ed is the father of eight and grandfather of 19. He’s an enthusiastic leader in business sales; marketing leadership roles have always been part of his past, but his passion is getting our youth and anyone who will listen through his experience and life and tell jokes to me before the camera role is so welcome, Ed.

Thanks for having me, man. I appreciate it. It’s great to meet you. Our mutual friend Deborah Sweet introduced us via text yesterday, and I thought we would chat today about our future. And here we’re doing a podcast, which is fine with me. Man, we’re ready to go.

Why the heck not? You’ve got to show no limits. I’ve got to show. Well, I’ve got a couple of shows. But you know, when you’re prepared, and you know the subject matter expert, which is you when you’re talking about yourself, there’s not a lot to prepare for what you’ve lived.

I’ve been doing it for a while, so do you know what you will do?

How? How old were you when you finally started to do The full Ed?

My whole personality, I’ll tell you this.

Just living without a filter is like being exactly who you are.

When I was just about 16 years old, someone asked me a question once, and my mom was there, and my dad and everybody else, and my mom said, oh, don’t ask Ed that, and they said why I said so because he’ll tell you the truth. Two old-school parents raised me.

By age of 15 or 16, I was telling people the truth. I didn’t mean to do it to hurt anybody’s feelings. But if you asked me a question, I didn’t think it would hurt your feelings for me to answer it truthfully. You asked for this kind of thing, right? Yeah. I did learn over the years in sales that it is probably not always a good idea to answer all those questions. But it depends on the size of the account.

Depending on the size of the account. Oh, I applaud your restraint based on financial matters. I’m still working on exactly how to do that. I had a supervisor after I got commissioned in the Navy. He’s asking me about my job, and I’ve been there for a week like I didn’t know. I’ve been in the Navy for like 13 years at this point, but this thing was, you know, brand new to me, and he was a prior enlisted guy as well. I was like, I don’t know, but let me find out. I’ll get back to you. 

And he essentially blew up his voice and changed pitch, and he’s like, I don’t. I wouldn’t say I liked that answer. Lieutenant Johnson. I don’t. That’s not a good answer. I was like, the other option is to tell you something untrue.

And I lie to you and try to make you feel good. Then, go back behind the doors, scramble to figure it out, and ask everyone how to solve it. Or I can just be straightforward with you. If you want me to make you feel good, I can. That’s an option. If you want me to never, ever, ever be the one who lied to you, you can choose option B and let me know. And I walked away. And you should have seen his face. There was like steam, like rolling up his head. One of those guys who, you know, has a little bit thinner hair, and he just starts shaving his head right away, which is good. Look for him, but like you could see visibly. Steam. He was so upset about it.

And he returned to me a couple of hours later, and he’s like, you know when you said those words? I was pretty heated. I was like, oh, I could tell. I could tell you were heated. Steam was rolling off of you, and he’s like, he’s like. I hadn’t looked at it that way in a long time, and he’s like, it’s been a long time since I was enlisted. It was like 16 years before this point in time like that. He was enlisted, and he remembers getting asked questions you didn’t know the answer to, and that was the response you were taught to give: You know, what? I don’t know the answer. I will find it, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. 

That’s the answer you’re taught because you can’t possibly know—everything but the way that we do school and the way that we do things. We’re conditioned. Is it that we are supposed to provide an answer!

I was at a job one time, and this new guy came in and was going to fix everything. You know, there’s always a new sales guy going to fix everything, and they end up getting rid of all the salespeople. Then they finally figure out, Oh, it’s. The guy got rid of him, but he fired me. 

And he came up to me and said, hey, by the way, you know, the other salesman told me that you didn’t think I was a very nice guy or something like that. And I said no; I didn’t say that. And he says, oh, you didn’t. I said no. I said you were a ************. The guy is too nice to tell you because he doesn’t act like me. So, and then he tries to. Shake my hand, and I’m like, Get the **** wrong with you. You know, people just don’t. They’re not used to being told stuff, right? The reality of things, I don’t know how we got away from that, for whatever reason. But like I said, I come from old school, you. You said you were born in 1981; I graduated 1980 from high school. 

So, I’m kind of a little more old-school.

I’m sure you are right, but you grew up when people would meet other people in public, and now this is, you know, after COVID. And I guess we’re still not supposed to meet people or some other nonsense, whatever the government tells us. You went to community events, showed up for community things, and went to a community church. That’s what you did, and your life revolved around only the people that you knew before. You know, yeah. Huge mass media There were a couple; right had the first three channels, and it expanded little by little like your basic experience was only with the people you knew, and a couple of news stories were coming, and it wasn’t this little thing in your pocket. They could give you a new story every second and a half when you’re swiping through TikTok, right? You just didn’t experience all these other things. And so, you had to learn how to get along with people.

And if you didn’t, you would rumble, right? You’d have to, you know, meet me at the flagpole or follow me outside. We can handle this right now, and I know it says Ed, No limits, right? But you found those limits when you got to a point where you were disrespectful. Or where you were. Being a jerk, it would get handled physically, and then you would know where the boundaries are. But now…

And it’s funny you said that because, you know, we had three news stories. Here’s what you did when you were a kid. First of all, you were careful with what you said. Whatever you said, He could kick your ***, and then they, I don’t even know, would just kick your ***, right? So, I was beaten up Quite a bit. I did some beating up, too.

You know, but in our youth, it didn’t really hurt anybody, and we all get along now, you know? Know who I am? Now, they Don’t let the kids fight. They don’t let them do anything. They don’t let them have any feelings. And now, at 18, they have a long jacket down to their ankle and a shotgun inside. We’ve created this: these kids are building up like a steam pot. They don’t have any way to get their feelings out, or they bowl. Now they’re bullying on social media, whatever. 

But, of course, I was way before technology. You know my grandson will show me something. A Spiderman Two He arrived the other day, and I said, Listen, he goes. Well, what did you do? Wouldn’t this have been cool when you were a kid? I said no. I played sports. That’s all I did when I was a kid. That’s all there was to do. We had a little trouble here and there, but nothing, you know, wasn’t manageable. So, it’s a whole different world.

It is right that we have none of these outlets, and so many people now like sports. This is. It is ungodly unaffordable, depending on what kind of family you’re in. I grew up where we couldn’t afford to do that stuff. I had to volunteer at the high school to earn enough money even to afford to take a driver’s ed, like we didn’t have it right. And nowadays, like my son, he was like, I don’t know, six or eight or something. It was like going to play baseball. Like five days a week. Job, right? Just to show up to the practices.

And then, like all day Saturday and potentially all day Sunday, the fees to get in are disgustingly high. I understand why the fees must be there, but you can’t afford to put your kids in these things and have them. You can’t. And then we’re at the place where we’ve had a generation of single parents raised a generation of single parents, and no hits on the moms here, but it’s been mostly the moms. And I’m not saying that it’s good or bad or that they’re incapable, but you miss that male perspective of how to do certain things, and not many ladies out there know how to raise a man.

Many of us took the value of sports when I was a kid. Was staying in shape, right? Running and jumping and all those things—the value now is: how much money can you make playing sports? Well, your child is six years old. He’s already four years behind in his training, right? But we have these prodigies coming out. At really young ages, and they’re training them, trying to teach them out of hit, and doing all these things.

And then they’re on pills by 9 or 10. And they don’t want to be there anymore.

They’re taking all the fun out of sports, too. It was a way to meet people. We were talking about racism earlier when I was a kid. I grew up in a multicultural area until we moved to a small town in northern San Diego. And I didn’t. I cared what color anybody was. Or can you play basketball? That’s all. Want to? Can you play baseball? Can you play? We just played sports and did it every day, at and after school, and we didn’t have little League and things like that were there, but we didn’t necessarily. Like I said, you couldn’t afford it. We were kids, even. 

So, no one cared about anything. No racism, no nothing. We just wanted to play sports with each other, and that’s all we did

Yeah. Yeah. And that’s the way it is like you come from a very different background. I’m from northern Minnesota. I don’t know if you know. This, but it’s colder than Norway in Minnesota. They did like there are no seasons in Minnesota. Yeah, they’re in season. It’s almost winter; winter is still winter and construction. You’ve got all four seasons, right?

It’s cold.

But just about everyone. When I was growing up, they looked exactly like me. There was one family from Africa and one from India, and everyone knew everybody, right? But there were no Experiences like my favorite baseball player growing up in the ’80s and ’90s in Minnesota, a Twins fan, and the Kirby Puckett fan guy Who’s a little chubby; he had a huge smile on his face all the time and loved the game, and like, that was my only real-life experience. 

I said that in air quotes because I knew the guy, right? But he was exciting to watch. He was out there with enthusiasm for the game. And we don’t see people walk around much anymore that have, like, even a general mild level of enthusiasm for whatever they’re doing in their day or their thing. They experience joy, and they talk about their family. It’s hard to get people to recognize their joy anymore because there’s so much **** they’re constantly experiencing and seeing.

Well, I knew where I would get into this, and this is When I hired Deborah, our mutual friend, to coach me. The whole idea was to get to a point where I could go out and do some public speaking, and I wanted to. I didn’t just want to be that cookie-cutter public speaker. Right. I didn’t want to, you know, put on a suit like Tony Robbins and go out and say all these things that nobody can relate to because he’s got $500 million, and it’s a little harder to relate to him. I wanted it to be for just the average cat, right? Just the average person out there. 

After two years of thinking about and working on this, the real tragedy is that we’re not taking care of ourselves. We’re trying to nurture other people, and we don’t have a good grip on ourselves, right? We’re doing mediocre things and expecting visions of grandeur to come true. Right. And we’re out there. We’re not the best version of ourselves because we do not care about what we do when we get up in the morning and love ourselves. The self-talk, the telling of that story, the self-esteem—it’s so bad. 

The excuses we can come up with—and I am a master of excuses, you know—not to do something good for myself. But that was kind of the whole; the platform for me is to go out and say, look, the first thing you have to do is be selfish and take care of yourself. And if they did that, they’d see more value in themselves. And that’s where that enthusiasm would come from.

No, I fully agree, but I don’t think taking care of yourself is selfish.

It’s exactly. It’s not selfish. I mean, it’s actually if you’re not, if you have children if you were trying to get a real estate license, or if you’re trying to run a business. And you’re not the best version of yourself. You won’t be able to get educated at a high level. You’re not going to be able to concentrate. You’re not going to be able to. Please do it. It’s selfish To not take care of yotself. 

There it is. Yeah, that’s the whole point of it. You know, the analogy that I’m abusing is that you can’t pour from an empty cup, and if you.

That’s right.

Can you get one or two drops or some food that was stuck in there? You’re not getting the best stuff, and if you were a complete train wreck, I mean, you know, serving in the military yet, Spoiler alert: You don’t always get it. The best sleep, Right? 

It’s just the way it is. When that happens, you know, once or twice a month. That’s not too bad, right? When that starts happening once, twice, or more per week, like you’re damn near a crisis, you’re one step away. You’re one pressure, one trigger, and something is happening to become a crisis in your life, and people don’t eat. I mean, that’s not even talked about in health class. Like the importance of sleep, exercise, and all the things that make us who we are.

When you start to add your trauma to traumas that are already happening, we know you’ve had trauma in your life, or you’re going to have it, or you’re going to have it. And now you’re piling more trauma on you because you’re not healthy. You’re not feeling good. Three months ago, I decided after listening to motivational speaker after motivational speaker.

So I listened. I try to put a lot of that positive stuff into my mind. These guys say you have to get up at 4:00 and go to the gym at 4:00 in the morning. Go to the gym, you know? And I’m like, I don’t. I don’t. I don’t know. Finally, you know, after three months, I’ve been doing it. It’s changed my life. For a lot of reasons; one, that’s my time in the morning, right? I get up at 4. I’ll be at the gym when they unlock it. At 5:00, I return at about 6:00. That’s what’s making me a better version of myself. I feel better and look better. I’m stronger. I’m 61. I’m working out with 30-year-olds. I mean, doesn’t that mean that’s OK, right? But when I get back now, my mind’s clear. That’s my time to meditate. That’s my time to listen to the music. I wanted to do whatever I could.

I’m trying to make myself for the people I have to care for. I’m raising two grandchildren. I have a wife. My other grandchildren are out there, and my kids still regularly communicate with me. And I still need to have an income. 

So I’m trying to be that example, so when I’m going to talk to people and tell them and hopefully teach them, you have to do this. You know, I’m walking the talk, right?

Well, it’s a big deal, right? I had another guest on Laverne Saulny. And when I met her, it was at an event. She talks event with one of my other guests, Dr. Julie Ducharme. And she was talking about her speech when I met her in Houston. And she talked about a shirt that she owns. Or she was given it, and she couldn’t wear it.

She couldn’t put it on; the whole speech was about this. And she does a great job of building it up. It’s an amazing story. It’s like you want to know what it is and what it likes. Yeah. And she opens her jacket, and it says three words: I am enough. I don’t know how everyone in the audience felt, but they hit me with a ton of bricks because we are generally our toughest critics. Right, we can be. Nice. We can be pleasant to other people. You know, we can show compassion; we can care. Then we look in the mirror. You’re like, I don’t even want to see you today.

Can you believe you did this? You had this thought. You were thinking about doing whatever the thing is, we beat ourselves up over and over and over again, and we will make mistakes. You’re going to make poor choices, and You’re going to say things like, Well, well, well. If it isn’t, the consequences of my actions will come to visit me after the thing I knew was wrong. It’s coming back to let me know that here’s the consequence.

This is key, and you could make a shirt out of it when you can finally tell yourself that you’re in the place you are because of what you did, good and bad when you can finally understand that.

If you’re 300 pounds overweight and have been eating ******* cookies for two years, it’s probably time to stop. Now, if you’re good at 300, you know, and 60 pounds, whatever, I don’t think that people are, but if you are good at that and it’s not a health issue, or it’s going to become a health issue, that’s why you’re there; I listen to everything in my life. If there’s anything, it’s from what? You know, I could not have said that to the guy who was shaking. I could have just shaken his hand and said thanks for the opportunity right now; that didn’t cause any rest for me. I skipped out of there with that attitude. 

If you’re going to take some action today, you have to see. Where it will get you now is three shots of vodka, or is that maybe, you know, a multivitamin, and you know, some cauliflower rice? I don’t know. You have to decide what you want. 

But the thing is, when you’re listening to these motivational guys, this diet group is all these things. Not everything fits you. There’s another thing you have to do. You’ve got to find out what’s best for you. You said you wouldn’t get up at 5:00 or 4:00 in the morning and go to the gym. That’s fine. That’s not. The key to success just happens. To be a good It fits in my life, right?

Right. Yeah. You have to make that decision, whatever that decision, and Jim should eat better. Whatever. The thing is to decide what’s best for you. If you work overnight and have been getting up early for years and making sure your gym time might be 2:00 PM, it might be 3:00 PM, whatever.

The thing is, there’s a science that proves that people are generally One of three things we do: either energetic and good in the morning, either good and energetic in the middle of the day, or we’re good and energetic late and for most of my life, even though I spent 22 years serving the Navy like I was that late-night guy after everyone went to bed. Everything was finished, and everything was complete. Where I’m at home, and my house is peaceful. I feel like I have the time now to do whatever I want. It was writing, connecting, or learning a new skill or something. But I need to know everyone else is at peace to get that time.

You know something we brought up about the military? So, are these people that you speak to and listen to? Because I think what happened was that I was listening to a speech by a Navy SEAL one day. Have you ever seen that guy? He gets up, has his full uniform on, and talks about making your bed. That’s.

Thank you, bud. Yeah.

And I’m listening to him, and I’m driving. Home to listen to a lot of audible books. I was moving around and thought, how can anybody relate to a navy Seal that hasn’t? I have never been in the military or whatever is hard. I mean, that’s listening to this. What’s his name?

Marcus Latrell.

I was listening to him the other day. I’m like, I can’t even fathom what this guy’s been through. Other stories this guy tells them, I can’t understand, and I think sometimes if our comp if it’s a common person, is listening to that, a real estate agent or a, you know, farmer’s insurance agent or something like that, they’re like, well, I can’t even relate to that.

So they just continue to be the media. But they have something they need to find out how to relate to, and that’s where I would say that’s kind of the piece. I want to build. Let’s just. I’m just a normal guy. Like you guys, I have kids. I had to change 8,000 diapers, but I had to change. I had to do diapers, and I had to do all those things. And so, let’s figure out how you’re doing and going to get to that next level, and it’s not. It’s not necessarily money. It’s not even necessarily a better job.

It’s rarely money.

I know it’s just waking up and going. Let’s just kick some *** today, right?

Yeah, yeah.

Walk outside with a smile on your face. You know it takes more muscles to smile than frown, and you can do those little things. Just think about how your day changed. Your whole outlook on life, and then you could. Absorb all this ******** information we’re getting into. Time, and that’s one. There are three news channels of what we’re getting so much stone out of us. When I was a kid, there’s 3,000,000 now, right? There are 3 million places you can get information from, and 2,000,999 are wrong. There’s something some ******* person made up.

So these are the things that we have to start addressing on our own. Mind. And you know, what’s best for us, not for 2000 other people at the Tony Robbins thing? And I’m not insulting Tony Robbins. I’m just saying that sometimes we get to find out what’s best for us.

I fully agree. I fully agree. I know you grew up Catholic, and I grew up in the Lutheran Church, and you’re taught a certain way of doing things. You’re looking at the Bible from a certain perspective, and how you live your life is a certain way and this and that. It’s not the only way to do things. 

One of the things I learned from all the different times I moved is that I’m up to 50 now, which is a wonderful number. Very exciting. Yeah, you see? And this isn’t an indictment on religion, but you see, every place you go, there’s a different way to do something.

That is wild. I read that in your bio, yeah.

Someone was doing it in the last three towns you were in, and they held it a different way, and they all reached a satisfactory outcome. So why is it so hard to understand that we can do different things and have different experiences as people and go and interact together without too much problem? You talked earlier about your background and being very colorful in the community, and you didn’t care. It wasn’t about that. And we’re not taught that. It’s about that. We’re just it. 

I spent a year with different people in the Middle East, and I only know the news stories that I received here in America. I go over there. I don’t know if you know this, but there are families over there, malls, and kids throwing tantrums on the ground in the mall because they didn’t get whatever was right; it was just people everywhere. 

If we’ve got a family, we want to do good for our family. When our kids do better than we did, we care about being reasonably safe and secure. You have enough money in the bank to do the stuff you need and some of the things you want to be left alone. That’s how I feel everybody is, but we’re always in everyone else’s junk.

That’s poison in America, I think. And I kind of think we were brought up this way. This is the only place to be, right? It’s the only place. Anything’s happening. It’s the only reason we don’t need anyone else. We don’t need to know anybody else’s history because it’s only happening here. No matter your religion, it didn’t come from the US unless it’s some Protestant that just broke off last week. There are 40,000 Christian religions in the US. How could the **** that be?

How can there be 40,000 different? There’s only one Jesus, right? And you know, if you talk to anybody, there’s only one Jesus. But. He had a lot of hats because I get a lot of different information from other people about that.

I think that’s the other problem. Matthew Kelly considered a dynamic Catholic, is a writer and used to be a business coach. He does all these things, and he approaches when he writes a book or doesn’t see that it’s not really about Catholicism. It’s kind of about being nice to him in general. The golden rule Although he does talk about the mass, at times, she explains the mass to people. And I don’t think most people get it like they’ll go to church and go, you know, I don’t like the choir director. We’re not going to church next week. 

That’s not why you attend church because of the choir director. By the way, there’s another. Stuff is going on. That’s pretty important. But he says something great. He says the biggest crime in the Catholic Church is that we’re letting the media tell us who we are. This is the biggest crime in America, as we’re letting the media tell us who we are. We’re letting rich people say that we can’t do it because they’re rich and want all the money, and you’re not as smart as me. 

People keep getting told this, which is why we have this mediocrity problem. It’s because they don’t think they can do it. Second podcast: My daughter came to me three years ago and said, Dad, why don’t you start a podcast? I said I don’t know what’s on the podcast. I didn’t even know. This is when COVID-19 started. We are in New Orleans; the senior returned and found my mentor under 30. Everybody should have one of those, so they know how to do 10. 

I said, how do you do a podcast? Oh, it’s easy. You just do this. But I said, what if I screw it up? **** it. Please do it again. Do another one. There’s no FC; there’s no issue here.

Right. So, I started a podcast. I have over 100 episodes, of which I should have more. The point, but that’s OK; I’m rolling. I’m just not going to listen to what other people tell me that I can’t do anything. 

I’m the same way. If I want to listen to what people say, in my stars for my life, my fate right this hand that I got dealt. I would never have done it. Anything, I would have been some degenerate, probably a drug addict with two or three ladies in my life with four or five kids and several different people. 

I would just be a complete drain on society because if you ask someone about a foster kid, they have an opinion that a foster kid equals this, or if I move too many times or go to 12 different schools, like, oh, someone who does that, they’re going to be this. Why are people walking around letting everyone put their labels on you, and then you try to incorporate all that stuff you can’t be , because no one tells you what you can be?

It’s a pandemic. It’s what?

Why are? We’re doing well. Is that OK?

Yeah, everybody’s doing it. That’s right.

Why is it? Why is that OK?

We preach inclusion, right? We preach it just like leadership; we preach leadership, and then we have we got **** leaders? They were in the worst leadership situation the US government has ever had in our entire history.

I think they’re great leaders. I’m saying it on purpose because they’re teaching us.

What not to do

That’s right.

Right. You get the lesson—either way. Everyone’s a great leader. Sometimes, they show you exactly how you would ****** your life if you did what they did. And that’s the lesson you need to learn.

In the business world, on LinkedIn, all these people talk about leadership and everything, and they go. Oh, this is how you do it. I was in a What do you call these CEO groups? At one time, I was the Vice President of Sales for this company. We would meet once a month and talk about all of our problems and how we would fix them. 

And at the end of the hour, at 2 hours or whatever, we had all these pitching ideas, right? We’re going to do this, do that, and do this. And you know what? Those people returned to work and did the same thing they were doing for the month before, and they’re still doing it today because I’m in touch with most of them, and they’re still ****** **. They never changed, right? I know it’s hard to change, but I’m a completely different person than I used to be because I wanted to be different. I’m like, I don’t want to be that person anymore. So I changed. I made small baby steps. Whatever you want to do, I change, and I’m still.

Listen, I don’t I don’t want to go to sleep yet. I love. When Eastwood says, how can you still do what you’re doing at 93? She says I get up every day. Morning. I don’t let it. The older man is right. I get out there and do my best. I don’t want to. I got. I still have dreams. I want to accomplish those dreams kind of. It’s not moving as fast as I wanted to because I make excuses. That’s the ****. I had to stop doing it. That’s on me. And that’s the stuff I look at in the mirror and do not. Today, ************, you’re not doing that today, right? You have to do this. 

That ******* in the mirror is responsible for all of my problems.

Oh, my God.

Let me tell you. Right now, I am. It was you again, wasn’t it?

I wish she would get.

That means it’s that Spider-Man meme we’re all pointing at each other as the same person.

How come there are so many mayors in this house? I can see. In the windows and the cars, I know. That guy keeps following me around, right?

One of the biggest problems with something like Christianity is not the religion itself; it’s the people who say they’re Christians and are of whatever faith and then treat people like garbage instead of treating the way with grace that we were taught to, like the Old Testament, I know if you ever think that stuff, that **** is terrible, almost whole. The thing is awful, right? 

And how could we get to where we need to be in Jesus? Yeah, I know. She did something wrong, right? Condemn her if you want to. Anyone here was without any problems, go ahead and throw the first stone. Right. They all walked away. They all walked away because they weren’t following or incorporating the word. 

They weren’t doing what they were supposed to or behaving the way they were supposed to. They’re quick to point out somebody else’s problems, right? We do this stuff with politics in the US. That’s the problem. It’s obvious, and I will change whatever the thing is; they never say what they will do. They just say they’re going to change it for the better. Like I said, change. And they’re. Like oh. Yeah, let’s select them.

My mom used to tell this joke and say, Let the person with the no sin. Cast the first stone. And everybody ducks and Jesus looks fast and goes. Mom, seriously, you know, she’s all. But you know what? You know what? No one ever says we can make Christianity better. No one ever talks about that. Right. 

Or we could make everything better. It’s great you got a pen there. Right down, church stool in the bar stool. Church pews and the bar stool Look at that video on YouTube. All you folks are looking up church pews and the bar stool. It’s about a 4-minute video, and it gives the entire… In 4 minutes, it tells you everything about it. You know, the guy in the bar decides to go to church, and the people in church thought he smelled and didn’t look good, but they didn’t. Want him there? Jesus. You hired the worst of the worst, right?

Tax collectors. Worse people.

The worst of the worst, and what did he do? He turned him into a saint, right? So. We should be looking at these people, and we do this every day, right? We do it in the Catholic Church. It’s terrible. I’ve been going to the same church for almost three years because we moved to a new area. I’ve only had about three people come out and say anything to me. 

There are probably 4,000 families in this church now. I don’t know if you know, but I have tattoos. This and that, and often I’ll wear shorts because it’s. Right, I am probably not the most welcoming person if I’m not looking. If I’m not, you know, if you just look at me, you’re probably like, Oh, but.

You’re just not. You’re just not wholly enough, right?

I’ve been going there for three years. I’ve had a pretty consistent, you know, I’m with my grandkids. My wife and I walk, and we do our thing. I know all the prayers. I know all the hand signals. I know how to moonwalk when the old lady in front does it. I know all that stuff.

Yeah, all the calisthenics in that Catholic Church.

A lot of calisthenics, but it’s a kind of poison. It’s another poison in the church, and it’s in society. Really, right? I mean, I always talk to people when I’m out, but people mostly just don’t want to be bothered. And after COVID, they don’t want to be bothered.

Right. Well, in California, anyway. But you know, watching and enjoying a little, you know, quality American TV love like The Big Bang Theory, and then young Sheldon came out, I was like, it’s not going to be as good or whatever; like, I don’t know if you ever see if it’s funnier than the original. It’s like everyone’s got a punch line. 

But. They talk about the story. How about George? Georgie Sheldon’s older brother, Like, gets some girls pregnant, and then mom loses the job at the church, and they’re not welcome to come back to church on the weekends. They say they’re welcome, but they don’t feel welcome. No one has shown up for Bible study yet at Sheldon’s or Mary’s house. Because. Something’s going on over there. Everyone on the back and the church turned their backs on the family when they needed them the most. 

I don’t know about  You, but I read stories about how you know. David is an adult. And people are cheating and notice it was a murderer like all these people that have done all these terrible things, which is all of us. We are still welcome in the House, and that lesson is being turned and used for good, and somehow, we can’t take that lesson and be decent human beings to someone we know in our congregation who’s struggling. What? What sense does that make? Make makes not.

That’s why I’m listening to you say that I’m feeling some guilt because I have some of those issues that people have. I have not. Give them the redemption, right? I’ve held their foot on their neck. Right. And you’re right. But these are the these that are these. Moments where we’re going to have to go, maybe. I bet, you know, maybe I better make a left turn next time instead of a right so I can talk to that guy and just let him off the hook. Right? 

I don’t have to love him. I’ll always love him, but I don’t need to like him. But I’ve got to let him off the hook because it’s more poison than me. They hate it inside you. That’s where the fire starts. He doesn’t even probably care. But you have to get that out of your heart, right? You have to get that hate out of your heart and all those things. 

And listen as I sit here. And I just got on my pulpit and said these people don’t talk to me. I don’t go. Gotten, you know, grab. All the people at church, by the way, because I’m probably scared out of them. But you know, so I mean, I’m just as guilty a lot of times, and that’s why we all are. We all get redemption. That is something we are allowed to do. But God was nice enough to say you could redeem yourself, too.

Yeah. Well, people talk. About getting what they’ve earned and what they’re worth. Based on what? The Bible? He says we all deserve eternal damnation. Right. Not some people, not the bikers over here. Not the gang leader. The CEO also gets what he deserves, and he deserves that. Right? 

And it’s a level playing field; talking about this stuff isn’t an indictment on you or your character. We all have ways in which we fall short every day. I was sitting here this morning. Checking my calendar, it said to talk to Ed later. Great day, right? 

I started going through some emails and looking at some stuff, and I’m like, you know what? I have a lot on my to-do list. I started writing it down, and it’s pretty substantial. I told a joke to myself because the last thing on my to-do list is to become sexy while still enjoying tacos. That’s.

Well, it is Tuesday.

Since I’ve been retired, I could get up and, you know, say goodbye to my son and stuff. But really, I do a lot of my work from here—from the computer, studio, and just hanging out here. And so, I’m over here, getting up. But I haven’t done anything yet. And I get a message, and I look at this thing, and it’s a picture from my backyard, and it’s like we’re here for the party, and I’m like, Party. I’ve got a back gate that goes to the church behind my house, and we’ve got a cul-de-sac neighborhood. 

So, perfect party parking in the back, and I’m like, look, what are you guys doing? Like, there’s a big thing here. They’re opening up a veteran clinic for veterans, not just for veterans but also for their spouses and their children. Are also able to come. I was like, That’s cool. It’s like, why are there cop cars like, oh, the governors? Here, so within. You know, 40 yards from my house is the governor. My, my, my senator, my congressman, and a bunch of people I know in the veteran community here, And I was like, well, shoot. I better go. Right, show up. I looked myself in the mirror, which reminded me, Travis, you’re not ready for the day. Not even the slightest. 

The best you can do is put a hat on that head and put a big jacket on so no one can tell that you’re just not prepared for the day—scrub the teeth. And I ran over there. I was not prepared to do that today. It wasn’t on my to-do list. I didn’t take care of myself this morning, so all the stuff we’re discussing is a reminder for me, too. It’s not as preachy. 

By the way, Travis, this also applies to you too. You have to start taking care of yourself on a timely basis. I love staying up late, which means I hate getting up early. And when I get up on my own time, I don’t always get ready for the day because I don’t have to leave—my house. 

But man, if I had gotten ready for the day, I would have been prepared, and I could have worn one of my suits that’s pressed and ready in there. My hair would look good. I would have smelled fresh. And I would have been able to make a better impression on some of the people I saw today instead of showing up,

It’s funny you mentioned gang members and CEOs when I was probably 30/31 years old. I went through a divorce, and I wanted to be that corporate guy, right? I used to wear a suit and tie to work every day. I was all press Shirts, all that. And as I started to get to know more of these people in the upper management and these executives and stuff, I’m like, man, I know. Bikers and gang members have more ethics than you guys, right? At least they have, like, there’s honor among thieves, right? There’s. You get into that world there, and I’m like man, I don’t know, just I can’t do some of the stuff these guys have done. 

They’re not willing to help people, and they’re not going to do it. That’s kind of where the tattoos started; then the tattoos started because I was in construction and in that world. And I’m like, you know what I don’t want. I just don’t want to be like you guys, right? I’m going to be me. And every tattoo has a story and all those great things. And I necessarily condone people getting tattoos. It’s up to you. It’s your business. My grandson, he’s 16. He wants to get a tattoo. I’m like, no, I’m not Getting a tattoo; if it were up to me, you wouldn’t get one for your 40. I got my first one when I was 48, so, you know, you have to watch this stuff now. Most of my kids have tattoos here and there, but I’m getting off on a tangent. 

I started to see people way different. I saw some supposed bad people were good, right? That had big hearts. They took care of their kids. They do all the stuff that they’re supposed to do in this, you know, to be a good person and some *************. 

And I’m like, now they have secretaries; they’re doing this here. They’re doing that to that girl there. They have this one going on. They’re getting divorced every 5 minutes. So yeah, I mean, but it kind of goes back. To that, who were being told who to be? Right. You can’t look like that person, or they’ll put you in that category. Well, no, not necessarily. It doesn’t have to be like that, right?

But I’m with you. I fully get it. I know the media has had a full-on assault against white middle-class Christians over the past couple of years. And when you meet, when I meet people, especially in different places, I’m in Oklahoma City, in the middle of the country, and pretty much everyone just gets along with everybody. They could care less about any of this stuff. 

When I find myself in the more heavily populated area, I get some looks. Sometimes, I get some digs. I remember when I was in university for a couple of years. Ago, we were examining this. How was psychosocial development talking about, you know, socioeconomic status and how that translates into adulthood and what it looks like to, you know, live for the minimum wage and try to make a life for yourself? 

I grew up in trailer parks, foster homes, and other places with seven income streams. It was all government assistance, right? Government cheese. I swapped that government paycheck for a different one by joining the military, but one’s more honorable than the other, supposedly. 

But we’re watching this thing. I’m in class with 12 ladies and two dudes who are foreign exchange students; whatever they call them in college for foreign nationals, I’m the only white dude in the place, and we’re talking about this stuff. We see a video of a gal in New York City; she’s sharing a house with her sister and has her cell phone. But she gets on the subway and travels 45 minutes in each direction. Every day that she works, she goes to work at McDonald’s across town for the minimum wage. 

And it’s kind of a fun situation, but I’ve been in those situations. And they were talking about it, and it was supposed to start the discussion of raising the minimum wage and what that looks like. And I was sitting there. I wasn’t saying anything; the guys were talking about this, that, and the other. And the professor was like Travis, you have something. It looks like you want to say I’m like, I do. But, you know, fair warning. I’m afraid I have to disagree with anyone’s assessment here. 

Before I started to say anything, this gal and the class came up and were screaming in my face about this stuff. And I don’t even remember what she said. But I was like, I’m still on active duty. I can’t stand up and do anything because if I take any action to protect my physical space, it’s just some guy beating up a girl, right? 

So I lean over and look at the professor. I’m like, will you do anything because no one here wants me to stand up right now? And she eventually … I corralled the girl outside of the classroom. And I started talking about this thing, and I’m like, I see her situation differently. I think she’s in a phenomenal position because she has dedicated childcare. She has a house that’s taken care of. She gets 45 minutes or an hour and a half every day that she works to do whatever she wants to learn on YouTube to listen to and download any audiobook to use her library card, give her access to the program that lets you check out audiobooks from a library. You can learn anything you need to. And she has dedicated time where she’s got her hands free, and she’s traveling, and she can do this, and she can start learning anything she wants to learn. And then someone said, What the **** do you know about it? 

And I was like, oh, I don’t know. How about everyone else? I grew up going to different schools. I was in. I moved 36 times before graduating high school. I was in 12 schools, six states, and five foster homes. Both people in my family tried to kill me at different times. We were homeless twice. And we grew up on these programs. 

I can understand these things, but they didn’t think I’d ever had any hardship. Because they’ve been told that I’m a white middle-class Christian and I haven’t been through anything, and I couldn’t possibly see it from their point of view, or because of my gender because it was a single mom that I didn’t have, I wasn’t allowed to have an opinion based on my sex, my gender, and, like, how many millions of years, generations, or eons? Would you fight to have an opinion, and now you will take away my right to have an opinion because I’m a dude? That doesn’t make any sense.

But you said I said something important. They’ve been told that’s the problem. They’ve been told that they can’t, can’t do it, or should listen.

They’ve been told. And they believed it without challenging it. They just onboarded it into their operating system and went with it without any challenge.

And you can go to any school or college society and find super successful people who drug themselves out of it. Most millionaires in the world have drugged themselves out of that, right? They weren’t. Rarely anybody.

Most people don’t know. 85% of millionaires are first-generation. They’ve got that on their own. It’s not in trust. It’s not being handled.

And you know, you can always read a book. You can always do it.… Listen, we were raised to believe that we could do anything we wanted to. We weren’t allowed to say I couldn’t be in my house, and we didn’t have successful parents—far from successful. They ended up getting divorced. There was abuse, and there was alcoholism in the house. Everything. 

But my mom taught us, look, you can do anything you want. My wife’s always amazed when I can fix something in the house. She’s like. How do you know how to do that?  Because when I was younger, I had to do it. We didn’t call mechanics; we went out and got the pistol.

I could afford a mechanic.

No, he never went to the doctor.

You could afford to call the mechanic because it was a long-distance call.

Yeah. And that’s a true statement. I mean, you couldn’t. So we didn’t have that stuff. We figured it out. Me and my dad rebuilt my first Volkswagen head, and my mom’s engine blew up. And I borrowed 250 bucks from my mom. My dad and I built an engine in the garage and put it in the Volkswagen. I paid her back in three. Months, because that’s what’s in the rules, she said. You’ve got to pay me back in three months at a job, and you know that’s how you survived. Back then. We didn’t get new cars. No. One bought me ****. You know, so. 

But because I want to go on this road because I’m white. I have the white privilege thing going on, right? Although I lived in a minority area, I grew up, by the way. I was mostly Hispanic and black, and I didn’t care. Because I am, what they wanted to do was play sports, like I said earlier. 

So yeah, I mean, we can Come up… One of the four pillars in my podcast is excuses, and you can come up with any excuse not to do something. Look, I’ve got eight kids. Don’t you think I heard some excuses when they were teenagers? What about what they couldn’t do? You know what I mean? 

And, you know, they’re not all doing perfectly, but many are. And a couple of them are still doing whatever. They’ll figure it out because then I’m not helping them. I’ll help them with advice. Something my one daughter, my oldest daughter, will call me sometimes. Let’s say she has a promotion that she might be able to get. And I always put it to her like this. What would you tell your daughter to do with the information you have right now? You would never steer your children wrong. I would hope, right? Right. And I know her. I wouldn’t do that. 

She answers her questions, right, but I love that she calls me and asks me because I want to be involved with her on that. She’s 30, almost 37 years old. And so, sometimes you have to think of life like that. How would you tell your kids about your life? Oh, I. I can’t do it; I would. You tell your kids they can’t do it. No, you wouldn’t. No. Yeah. It’s that perspective we’re coming from. We’re looking in that mirror and seeing Mr. *******. Right. But you’re not. But you don’t go down to your six-year-old. You say you have a six-year-old son.

I’ve got a 20-year-old daughter and a 15-year-old son, but I have a seven-week-old granddaughter.

OK, so you don’t go to that 15-year-old and say? Oh, you can’t do that. You know, if it’s positive, right? That’s him.

Right, right.

She says, Oh, Dad, I want to. I want to be a cop or whatever. Oh, you can’t do that. Well, because it’s not right for you. I want you to be a doctor or whatever. Whatever the thing, you wouldn’t do that. You’d say, you know, I want you to be happy. I want you to find something you love because then you never go to work, right? That old saying.

So we have to stop. We have to stop with the people telling us we got to stop inputting all this **** in our stuff and putting our stuff in. And that could be that I just got a journal I’m selling on Amazon, and it’s just writing stuff down, right? 

There are 8,000,000 journals. I’m probably not going even to sell one unless I buy some for the kids. But it’s the whole point that I tried it right. And I got it published, and I did that. It’s just trying all these things, and we have so many resources that these kids have. Dude, these phones—this phone I have—are better than the IBM rooms. Remember, in the 1960s, they had these rooms? This thing has more power than those rooms had. And all the access we have to everything.

For those of you who don’t know, in important buildings, often, the entire basement, the entire thing was filled up with servers and processors. This, that, and the other. And there was a team of people running it, and it was one computer. And like. I don’t know if the gears in my watch are fancier than they were. The computing power—you know, power—was almost nothing. They measured in bits and bytes, and in gigabytes and terabytes, they measured in these infinitesimally small numbers. 

And they had punch cards as the programming because the machine could read them. Spaces are the, you know, closed spaces; open spaces are the spaces, and you could get nothing done right. It’s not like this stuff that we walk around with in our pockets. It’s not like the stuff where I can flip open, and I’ve got a ring light and the camera, and I can afford this as an average, you know, 

American, get something done and get this published online. You know, we talk about you having no limits on your show. Things I talk about are that there’s no rule, no limit, and no permission required. I don’t need to pitch the CEO of NBC to have a show anymore. I don’t need his permission. I don’t need his impact, input, feedback, or money. I can flip over my phone and start recording today; let’s talk about whatever I want to talk about.

I had my computer take crap here a couple months ago, so I did a podcast on my phone. It came out fine. It’s a little. Harder to edit. I don’t edit. I don’t edit stuff anyway, but I did it on my phone, sitting right where I’m sitting right now with these stupid lights on, and it came. It’s pretty good. And they have the knowledge to use it. We’ve had to learn that knowledge. Right. I had to learn all this. This stuff came away. After I was an adult,

Oh yeah.

And now these kids, like my son and their grandson, have to fix my phones for me sometimes. How do I do this? You know, and it’s ******* done. But. Yeah, it’s amazing.

They can use it; they can use the tool, but they don’t know what they want to use it for or the purpose, and we’ve proven in this American experiment that we can choose something with meaning or entertainment. We know what everybody’s using. Yeah, you know, I chose to meet three times this past week. Cool. Well, you chose entertainment 942 times, right?

So, about a month ago, I sat down. It was a Saturday afternoon. I was tired. I don’t know. I was tired. But I’m like, I’m going to watch a movie, right? I don’t watch TV. We’ll turn it on. It’s kind of background noise, whatever. And I got on to it, and we have Hulu, Netflix, and all that crap. Right. 

And I start looking through. I’m like Jesus Christ. No wonder. Everybody’s 150 pounds overweight. There’s this one. You could watch TV for a month and never see the same thing twice or a year. There was so much stuff to choose from, and, like I said, we don’t. Really. Watch it. But I feel like I’m burning up my life if I’m sitting there for an hour and a half watching a movie, so I have a hard time even getting into a whole movie anymore. 

But yeah, it’s wild, you know. I guess, and they’re in kids’ defense these days. We’re not asking them to be meaningful sometimes; we’re not communicating with them like that. We’re using their text system. We’re doing all the things that they want us to do. To do because we don’t want to be too hard on our kids and **** like that. I think I had a lot of guilt. I was divorced twice before I met my wife, and we’ve been married for almost 21 years now. 

I was a single parent for four years; she was a single parent. When I met her, I had guilt; I still have guilt from seeing them do something that was a bad decision. As an adult, I look back and go—you know, that’s probably my fault. At one level, the other level is you. You know, that was what you wanted. Just doing it was stupid, right? 

So, but you know. I mean, it’s like the whole other podcast about raising children and all the stuff that goes on now versus what went on there and the information they’re getting shoved in their mouths every minute.

I don’t. I don’t. I don’t envy them.

Especially in California.

I don’t need them at all. It’s a common thing when people retire from the military. They kind of speak to the younger generation, like, I wish I could be in your shoes right now. I could go flying for another 20 years with this. That and the other, I don’t wish to be in my kid’s shoes, even in the slightest. 

There’s just too much Stuff. There’s too much noise out there. You can’t hardly get a signal through all the noise. How do we expect them to make good choices or to build real experience? Because if any little mistake happens, anything is weird or out of whack. Someone has got their stupid phone open, and they’re recording it, and they can get a million downloads on TikTok before that person even has a clue that they were even being recorded. It’s wild. 

I know that I did many stupid things when I was a kid, and I know that I made some terrible decisions. I also know I am the bad guy and the evil villain, and at least I don’t know ten people. Stories like they see me coming, like Travis, are the worst. I know that it is. 

But there’s no record of most of that. Maybe a photo has faded so much that you can’t tell what it is. There may be a newspaper somewhere that wasn’t digitized and is available online. There’s someone out there for whom I broke their heart. I know for a fact. I know it exists, but there’s no evidence to remind me or show my face. I’m not telling a joke ten years ago on an improv stage. 

That was hilarious at the time, and now that we know a little better, it is the worst thing ever to have been said in the history of humanity. I don’t have anything that will destroy me years later. But they can’t even step out of line or be able to form what opinion they might think is OK right now because if they say it, they’re indicted publicly for the rest of their lives. They have to live and walk through that shame line. Right. Shame, shame everywhere they go and everything. 

You’ve got people tucking guns into trench coats; they can’t get away when you get terrorized at school; you could at least go home and get away from it. Or if you had problems at home, you could go to school to get away. Or if you had problems in both places, you could meet up with a buddy and walk her down by the river and hang out and vent, or whatever. The thing is, with this stuff everywhere, you can’t even hide. To get away from it.

And my kids are old enough to be kind. I just missed it. A lot of that, although it was around, wasn’t. Like it is. Now, but I have grandkids now, so I have this grandkid. That’s the grandson. That’s right, right in the middle of that ********, and I’ve had to go to the school and talk to them. And then I like when they talk to me because I immediately let them know. 

First, you’re my kid’s age, and I don’t come from the same perspective. And I don’t agree with a lot of the stuff you’re doing at the school level and the, you know, trying to make everybody included in things that they don’t want to be included in that you’re going to shove down their throat, right?

Right.

Oh yeah, I can’t wait till they’re raised, and then my kids have to deal with their kids. Whatever. I just have to deal with two more, and then I think I mess with it as much as I think. Well, I shouldn’t say that at this point because I might have just jinxed myself.

I know, I know. I’m a new grandfather, right? And currently, Remy is a miracle and a masterpiece, right? She comes out. She’s perfect. She hasn’t had any bad habits. Yet she doesn’t watch the news right, right? She hasn’t been told she’s a terrible human being, right? She is one. Right now, when my kids are coming up, even though I didn’t have the most, I don’t know about my best childhood, but I’m sure everyone has something like that. 

My biggest thing was that I didn’t want to be the person I wanted to be. The reason they lose, like their innocence, was always my goal as a parent. I didn’t always know what to do. I was Googling stuff, watching YouTube, and calling for, like, hey, have you had this happen? No. Because I’m the oldest. I am a kid in this generation and know my other cousins. Have kids yet? Right. Like, who do you call? Who do you ask? What are your thoughts? 

So, if you don’t Have a community built up, right? Or if you’re not in a sport or some other group, who do you ask? Ask the Internet at large, and good luck getting a quality answer. Out of the average Internet response,

Oh, I think your great podcast would be going on Google with me and asking those questions, and then they’d read the answer to me. Then I’d ******* tell you the reality. Right. That’d be funny. That would be a funny podcast.

There must be a premise for it, right? Like oh. This politician said something horrible. It’s a 3-second sound bite. Cool. What is that in the context of the whole speech? Well, when you watch the whole thing, that comment isn’t bad, makes perfect sense, and aligns with the picture they’re painting. They’re going to do something, but they won’t use it. 

They will use that one little snippet out of context to turn into something like the Bible says judge not, lest you be judged, and people like they’re using that to browbeat people into leaving them alone. But then it says in the next line, lest you be judged by the same measure, right? 

So when we take a stance on something, turn our noses, or say something about something, it’s going to be. They used to judge us in the end, but there’s more to that phrase. There’s more to that context. There’s more to that picture as it’s being read and write. You can’t just say those three words and be like, Yep, that’s it. That’s all it is.

Before we went on, I was telling you I was watching a clip of a guy. Who is with some women on a stage? They are, he says. This woman says, Is there a difference between men’s and women’s jobs? He says absolutely. There are men’s jobs and women’s jobs. And I’m like, Oh, you, that dumb ass. If he’s with like four women, right?

He’s not wrong, but he’s not in a great situation.

Exactly. And I would have handled it completely differently, but what he said and used the worst, he says, If you pull up to get your alternator out of your car and you pull up to a garage, and there’s a woman mechanic, would you let him work on your car? And I’m like, that’s the worst thing you could have ever said because I know some women mechanics that I would take my car in a second, no problem.

Yeah, my grandma can fix the car like nobody else.

I have seven daughters. It’s like I’m not. I would have helped them get educated if they wanted to do something. I sometimes think, when it gets physical, there are some things, like these sporting things we’ve been going through the last couple of years with the men competing with the women, that is ridiculous, and any logical person would know that. Yeah, any logical person would say that’s ridiculous, but remember that little group of people out there that will make the most noise because they have social media and all these outlets to do, and the average person would not even want to talk about it anymore? I’m done talking about it when professional athletes come out and go Serena William… I’m not. I don’t want to play Andy Roddick. 

You know, for being this. Want to play those guys? They’ll kill. It’s not because they’re less athletic; they’re different and built differently, right? But boy, we got to do everybody’s equal and all that stuff. I heard a guy the other day say how wonderful women were, how they’re God’s gift to men, and how awesome they are. And if you make them equal to men, you’re taking away the gift they have. They’re different than men. That’s the whole idea, right? They have. 

My mom did certain things with us compared to what my dad did with us. There are very different opinions and very different approaches to life. I mean, it was OK. To have a separation.

Yeah. Well, you. Yeah. So you’ll see it on TikTok. Right? Like when Mom has the baby versus when Dad has the baby. When Mom has the baby, they’re cute. They’re taking care of their paper. They got booze on. They’re swallowing. You get a cute little picture, and then you get the one with the dads. 

Please do it. And the kids are swinging from the chandelier like dropping elbows. It’s like they’re professional wrestling, and it’s just mayhem. Right. Good old Jr. Jim. Ross, but it’s mayhem in here, right? This it’s. It’s different. It’s OK to be different. And all the diversity training in the world somehow doesn’t apply to both men and women. 

I’ve worked with amazing female mechanics in the military. They cared so much that they did a better job at all these jobs as they blew me out of the waters than I could do.

In my experience with women, these managers, in more detail, often have a little bit better. They approach things a little bit differently. You don’t have to. Handle those quickly. Those are my experiences anyway. I have no problem working with most of my friends, who are women. Deborah, you know some other people. She’s introduced me to. No, I like how the people I like think. I like how women act. I like it; it just depends on the person, of course.

Yeah, it depends on the person.

But this guy just got himself back into this corner, and I’m like, oh, ****, dude, you aren’t getting out of it alive. They’re going to blow up your car. We’ll see how good the bomb tech is. The woman is when she blows up. She blows up your Ford Fiesta.

So I listened to a comedian talk about this and the difference between men and women. And he’s like, there’s got to be a difference, right? Like, Oh, you all out here, this is date night, right? Raise your hand. How many of you left your child with a dude? None of you. Not because you’re sexist, but because you’re not dumb, right? 

You’re not hiring a 16-year-old boy to come over and watch your kid. You know from experience that that’s about the stupidest thing you could decide to do. Unless they’re family, right? Family. You stay with Grandpa. Stay with the uncle, or whatever, but still, the guy isn’t the first child. Right. It’s what he’s like. It’s not a sexist thing. To say that is to say real things or what something is or how you see something. It’s not something to be attacked for. It’s that you have a different view than mine.

Well, it’s good. It’s kind of how you grew up, too. You know, it’s kind of how you grew up. If you were in a tradition, Mom stayed home, and Dad went to work like the 50s, whatever. Sometimes, you like it. My son is like that. His wife stays home and feels like he has five kids while he goes to work. 

And that’s up to him. It’s his business, right? Is it easy on them? They’ve decided this is how they want to raise their children, and that’s cool with me. I have other kids for whom both parents’ work. They take the child to daycare. I mean, whatever. Do I think it’s better if there’s a parent around more often? Of course, I do. But, you know, in our economy, it’s not. That’s easy to do, I get it, plus. And the whole scheme of things—it’s not my business. It’s their business, my kids. They have their own lives and will make decisions based on their learning. Listen, my kids say stuff to me all the time. Then I’m like, where did you not hear that at my house? I know you didn’t hear that in my house because I’m slightly more conservative. 

I know I was there in my house. But I understand that people learn things, and they will determine their belief system and all that. That’s why I can hang out with the liberals. If they want to and have an opinion, that’s fine. That’s up to you. Just don’t try to convince me you’re right. Just let me have my own opinion, too. Unless it’s something scientific or whatever, you can prove it to me. And I get this. We have friends who are—different. One is a Republican, is a Democrat. It’s the funniest thing you’ve ever seen these adults, you know, argue. One hates this guy. One hates that guy, and they say, what do you think I said? Well, I hate him all, so it doesn’t matter. You’re not going to get any good information from it. Me from about president down to, you know, local councilman. You’re not going to get any good information from me.

I’ve always said that news only shows you what you’re scared of. So whichever side of the spectrum you’re on, they’re showing you based on your political leanings. The shift that Is it scary about the other side? What they’re not showing is the 99.5% of what they do and say that you fully agree with—day at any game.

You know, that’s a good way to put it. That was an intelligent way to put it.

It is.

It only gets you what you’re scared of. No, you’re right. I get. I think that’s an honest statement. OK, I’ll go up from councilman to local politician. I’ll go a little. Higher than just. 

Well, so. So, from what I don’t know, I don’t. Know if I’m an average American. Or whatever, right? But. When was it, 2016 or 2020? I can’t remember. Which one? The Democrats had a nominee, Tulsi Gabbard, who is a veteran. She had a lot of conservative views, but she was from Hawaii and liberal. I thought that if that were going to be the nominee for the Democrats, they would have won a landslide. They would have had a minority, or having a woman in the office would have been a great first. 

The president was a Democrat. Through and through, a lot of the people on the right, especially conservatives who care about security, the military, and guns, would have been fully on board with her, but they didn’t run. Because she did everything that the party wanted to, and they determined that it wasn’t her time. What? Neither has anything to do with who should or should not be president, right? Obama wasn’t the guy back in the day. He was the guy who came out and did a speech for somebody, and he got a bigger reaction from the crowd than theirs. The candidate did so. They ditched their candidate and switched over to him because it made more sense, right?

Yeah, that’s a long conversation about a lot of stupid stuff that’s happening right now.

It is. Right with the people, in whatever power they have and where they hold the keys to whatever kingdom, they can decide that stuff for you. I remember the last election, and I’m not trying to get into that stuff. But remember the left, screaming up and down there? We don’t know another old white guy. We don’t want another old white guy. And then when the old white guy won the nomination, like, well, you know, it’s OK if it’s our old white guy.

Well, I said a. Funny thing to my person the other day who hates Trump, and I said, you know. If you would, I would have treated him like I do my grandson. My grandson’s an *******. I’d take his. Phone away, right? He probably would have won the election if you had just taken the Trump stone Away. Because he wouldn’t have been able to burn bridges, you know.

Yeah, I see. I thought I liked to envision; we fantasize about what could happen. What could be different? I thought that he would be like, Oh, we have an important national security thing going on, and we need full cooperation. We want to keep, you know, the media away from this one. 

So we can get something done. I view it because I know that conversation happens. Every week with the White House, they get going; they have to handle something real, and we hope that this is the stuff that they need to keep safe because there are things they need to keep safe, right? Don’t get out to the media and get all the eyeballs on this. 

So they take care of that matter right away. My mind likes it. We need what we need; we need the next. Two days free of nonsense. Gotcha. He’ll hop on the phone on Twitter and say something awful. And everyone will jump in that like chum in the water, and then they close the door and handle real business behind the wall. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s true now. I’m sure if someone listens like Travis, you don’t. What the **** are you talking about? And it’s true because I just imagined that this is how it might be, and it would make sense that it happened that way. That doesn’t mean it happened. I have no idea. But I can. 

And by the way, I have no idea what’s happening because I’m reading the same crap you’re reading. So when I go on, I will look at TikTok daily, right? But the reason is because of people like Gary Brecka, a doctor of physiology, and, you know, Jocko and some other people that will come on there and give me some motivational stuff or some workout techniques. And then, every once in a while, you’ll get a news item. Right. 

So. I’m just going through there. And that’s all my algorithms are all about. I save many speeches, then I’ll sit for half an hour before bed. I’ll listen to them, and they’re all like a minute and a half. Minute. 

So my algorithms take me to whatever my algorithms take me to, right versus maybe the liberal down the street who might be watching CNN all the time. Well, then her algorithm’s going to take it. So, she’s getting targeted news for her attitude, beliefs, or whatever.

Right for politics. Leanings. Yeah, you know what they’re doing with kids?

All kinds of weird ****, but go ahead.

Do you know what they’re doing with kids and the TikTok algorithm? If you’re a kid and you’re in China, this is a China-owned company. They show those kids their basic algorithm: kids that are achieving, respectful kids, kids that are doing amazing things, and they’re building up their kids, doing with the rest of the world, seeing on TikTok. Nonsense entertainment. Stupid stuff. 

So and so’s. They are torquing this week. And, like, that’s what our kids are getting along with. TikTok. That’s their base-level algorithm because they will tear us down, generation by generation.

Heart videos. Well, these are the things I used to tell my kids. Look, show me who you’re hanging out with. Please tell me what you’re reading. I’ll tell you where you’ll be in two years. You’ll either have a college education or be a drug addict. And I have two drug addicts who are kids. By the way, once recovered, work on it. And then that is the truth. Who’re you hanging out with? I told you something. And I don’t think we’re recording yet. I need to expand my circle, right? The people that I was in that circle with We’re just not thinking big enough, as far as I’m concerned. I just need to think much bigger. 

It’s people like you. It’s people like your friends and stuff that are doing these things on our planet. Situation: I need to get global right and listen; the difference between me talking to my realtor friend or talking to a senator is just logistics. I’m just not with the senator right now. I could have the same conversation with the senator with this farmer’s agent. I’ll tell you something I’m good at. I can talk to a gang member in the morning and see you all in the afternoon. I told you that. And the people aren’t. It’s much different, and I don’t change my attitude whatsoever. I am who I am. The old Popeye thing, right? 

So you’re going to get. What do I get now? I’m wise enough to stay off of certain subjects and things like that, and it’s not. I’m not interested in that. See, I need to sit in a room with Gary Breck and not watch him on TikTok. And those are things that need to be worked on. I need to be, you know, working on getting conversations with those people and getting those people on my podcast. 

Listen, I like Joe Rogan. I mean, I don’t love him. I don’t hate him. I like him; I don’t know him. Right. I know him from what I see, you know, just as you, me, and him are. He’s got he’s got a Posse is full of guests that we don’t have. Right. So, if I had to guess, he has ****, and I’d be getting 10 million views a day, too.

Well, then, as a podcaster, have you contacted any of his guests to try getting him on your list? Show, because I know.

No, that’s my fault. I know. And that’s, and that’s that excuse. That’s the ******* in the mirror.

For me, I haven’t done it either.

So tomorrow, I’m going to do this. That’s why, when Deborah, you know, does this stuff, I grab those people right away because I don’t know how many people you have. I had a gallon. A while back, Brenda lost her son to this horrific disease. I had her on my podcast. I got. That’s probably one of my most listened-to podcasts. Because of her circle of friends, right? This is all about remembering the shampoo commercial, and then I told a friend, and then? I told a friend, and now they have 16 women getting their ****. That’s all this shows how basic this is. But it’s getting there. That shampoo, people.

It is; it is right. Like I didn’t. So I didn’t ask to meet you. She wasn’t like, Oh, this guy had this amazing. I was like, Look, I don’t know who you got. I had. I had. Ira Bowman is on my show. Several hours ago. He’s got eight kids. I was like, Do you have any? Is there anyone that you know who has eight kids? I’d like to have him on the show. That’s not what I said. But you are not my first guest to have eight kids, which is just bizarre—you’re both in Southern California and have eight kids. I thought that was like a turn of the century, like the Pennsylvania thing. I have a lot of kids.

And, of course, we don’t give. So, mine’s a blended family. I don’t know if they have one.

Oh, so it’s a Brady Bunch situation. You have three. She’s got three you hired.

Both had A housekeeper named Alice.

I got six and two. I got six and two. But I think it’s funny. So when I do,

OK.

When I’m doing sales, I always get that into the conversation somewhere. Because nobody else has kids. Bucks got any? Kids. Who’s that stupid, right? But I could always call a customer and say, Hey, it’s Ed, and they go, Ed, man. And I’m like, I’m the one with the seven daughters and the son, and they go, Oh my God. I was telling my wife about you. Too, and blah blah blah blah. Boom. I’m right back in there. Right back in, right? On the sales side of things, they’re almost there. It’s like if I had someone from cybersecurity break into my account, they’d probably give me money.

Like this. Poor, this poor *******. We had to give him a couple of bucks. This poor guy, Yeah.

This poor ******, I need to give. He has some money. So I always get that into it because it is a thing, and now we just had our 19th grandchild last week. So if you saw me standing before you, I hope you would say you look like your grandfather, let alone have 19 grandkids, right? 

So, it’s a conversation starter. It’s a way to get things moving. I used to run the Chamber of Commerce here locally. I used to run a nonprofit. I know you do some nonprofit stuff. It used to be the grand night tonight for Columbus at the Catholic Church. Down the street, I used to Do a lot of those things. So those come into conversation, too, because what does it do? It makes you look, you know like you’re a philanthropist, right? You’re one of those people willing to do something for nothing. I got paid at the chamber. But. You know, I mean, so you got it. Those are. That’s the resume you’re peppering in.

I just want I. Do you want to meet cool people and try cool? ****. That’s like, Eat tacos.

100%, yeah, and eat tacos.

My to-do list this morning because I’m kind of a guy. It became sexy while enjoying tacos, and I was like, That’s got to be on my to-do list. It’s like eating tacos, staying sexy, and then telling them jokes with a friend. 

So it’s like, I only have two crossed out; I have one more thing. On my to-do list, that is no joke. Damn, my mantra is like, eat tacos and keep going. Seriously, I have this whole list of stuff I’ve done like all the stuff I’ve been through and the stuff I did. As an adult, I just didn’t have access to it; I’ve been to all 50 states. I’ve been to every city in the country that’s considered a major city. The only one I have left on my list is Miami. I’ve been to 12 countries. Like I’ve spoken all over the country, all over the world. I had the show first. Show I did not. Properly hitting #4 in the US will tell me you can’t do something. 

It’s not that hard. People like. Oh, what’s your dream? I want to go to Paris. Well, have you gone? Why haven’t you gone yet? It’s too expensive. OK, how much does a plane ticket cost to Paris? And they’ve never looked it up. Someone said it was expensive, and they took that to mean not for me. And they put it in their being. And I never even looked into it. Because they just think every time. Parents, I think it’s too. Expensive. Well, at the end of, you know, the tail end of COVID, you could take it to Paris or Buenos Aires for 220 bucks, yeah.

Well, I’ve done that to myself by saying You know, I met with Deborah a couple of years ago. I wanted to do this public speaking thing. Now, I’ve done a little bit here and there, but sometimes I’ll get To that: you’re not good enough. I think the attraction to me would be that I’m not that good, right? I’m not polished. I don’t want to be. I don’t want to be that polished guy. I want to be average there, right?

Is that what you wear to go public speaking?

Yeah. I’ll just wear whatever I put on my hat. I have shorts on now. I probably would wear long pants, but that’s it, and I have 35 pairs of shoes. Pink shoes, yellow shoes, and black shoes And white, I got so on my

I got. I got the same thing. Put sunglasses. I usually have a yellow pair on me because people like yellow.

I saw you on the ones on your website. Yeah. And also, my daughter says you got to put something about your shoes on, Dad, because you wear these wild ash shoes. And during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I wear two pairs of pink tennis shoes to the gym. Right. And they’ve got ribbons on them and all that stuff. 

And, of course, no one—some dentists. I had surgery a couple of weeks ago. And she goes. You don’t mind wearing it? Pink, I said. **** You have to tell me. Not to wear pink.

Well, you were alive. You were alive when boys wore dresses, and blue and pink weren’t assigned to either kid.

6 feet, 270 pounds. I don’t know about that. I think it probably is. It wasn’t my house.

Like in this kind of country.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I know what you’re saying.

Boys wore dresses up to a certain age. And there wasn’t any blue.

Why were all kinds of

Blue Point toys and pink toys like It didn’t exist; it’s been assigned.

Now you can see me coming.

Within the last 15

From a mile away. I always got something bright on the right. I have a pink hat on it. I worship.

But it doesn’t.

It means anything you want it to mean.

Nothing. I just. Well, deep down, I probably like to be looked at, right? I like these shoes, which are bright yellow. You can see them from a plane, you know.

Well, yeah, of course. Right. But you don’t feel weird because you have weird colors.

No, no, not at all.

On. Yeah. I feel weird when I yell. When. I wear yellow sunglasses. I’m like, I don’t care in the slightest.

And I think to search so. I get it all. But anyway. 

Because here’s the thing: if I came out of a suit and tie like I used to wear, I used to wear it for years. I wore a suit and tie. I wouldn’t be me. Right. I’m known as the guy who always wears the hat, and you know, it just wouldn’t be me. So what? 

So, I’m already starting by lying to the audience. Well, I don’t want to do that. And I can tell—look, I’ve been the VP of a company. I’ve been a CEO and president. I’ve been through all these things. I just choose not to. I fall into your little category of how I should be dressed now. I might put some slack on if it was some, but I’d still have some craziness. Ten issues.  

Right, but if you go to a gallery, you will wear a tuxedo with your style of shoes.

We just had my daughter’s wedding, and I just had a wedding about a month, two months ago. And I asked him. I said you don’t mind if I wear this? They said ****. We don’t care. I ended up wearing a dress. Shoes anyway, I just went looking for the father type. I’m just not. It’s not a big deal. I don’t care. 

I’m trying to get the point across. That’s really common sense. It’s at the most fundamental level to convince you that if you want to be the best version of yourself, you must take care of yourself first. It’s the, it’s. You know, it’s the oxygen mask on the plane, right? You have to put it on yourself first before you can help your children. It’s a very good, you know, metaphor for that. I don’t know where I was going with that, but I just want to meet. I want to be me and listen if I can. 

If Joe Rogan does what Joe Rogan does, I mean, half of those guys smoke weed when they’re on their podcast. I would not choose that, but Bill Maher does it if he wants. He gets his little podcast, and he’s getting high. Every time he’s on it, that’s up to him. That’s not. That wouldn’t be my gig. I would not drink while on one because I’d **** people off then. Not because I’m angry. I think I’m really funny.

I don’t like to say that you’re drinking because you think your inhibitions are down and you’re just not using the soft approach. At that point,

Oh, I get way funnier too. And I’m good. I hold on. I think I get way funnier when I drink. Most people around me do not.

There you go. There you go. Like, what do you mean? What do you mean, what’s it? Funny. Last night, I thought I was hilarious. Yeah.

It was hilarious.

Yeah, yeah, I’ve been told. I’ve been told I’m not that funny. Then, The night? Yeah, as funny as you think you are. I’m like, do I need to turn it down a little bit? Like, could you? That’d be great—just a little bit. 

So we’re getting ready to wrap up here. I loved enjoying just exploring life with you and seeing that there’s only, you know, a couple of things, but there’s one question that I haven’t asked you yet, and I’ve got to ask it. The staple of my show is, you know, what makes you a Titan? What is that stuff about you? That gets you to where you are.

If I had to write a bragging story, I would say, you know, we grew up extremely poor. As you know, my children and I didn’t. Know it, which was. The best thing in the world is that I had an imagination. And we weren’t harmed in any way. We weren’t. We weren’t abused. You know, we got our education; we did. We grew up in an old school where you did what you were told to do. The thing was, I like that basic fundamental. When I was 16, I got a job, and the money was awesome because when I was 14, I asked my dad, can we go shopping at school? 

And he says, how old are you? And I said 14; he goes, you know, you mow lawns and stuff. You can. I’m not going to. Buy me one. You want it anyway, so go ahead and buy your clothes. And I didn’t. Get insulted by that. I wasn’t mad.

I went OK. ****. That makes sense. I have money in my pocket, right? So I go by my So I went to work, and I said, man, this having money is pretty ******. So I was taken out. I didn’t want to go—high school. So, I took a bunch of extra classes and stuff, graduated a year early from high school, went on nights, and when I was 19, I had a brand new Corvette. I used to drive, and I lived at home. I was making $1,314.00 an hour in 1980/81.

It was just big money.

Big money four times, probably now more than what it was. And then I was told once that they called me in on a Friday night. I work nights at a grocery store, and my dad wakes me up. He says you have to go to work. I said no. I’m off tonight; he says no. I told him he’d be there in 30 minutes. They taught us work ethics. Right. You want to go. You want to get better at work. You want to. Get promoted. You get your *** to work. 

So I did that, and I had a really good time. Things were progressing at this awesome rate, and I lost my dad when I was 19. My dad has a serious drinking problem, but I have a good relationship with my mom. She made me understand. That was my dad’s problem, not my problem, right? I left my dad when he wasn’t drinking and when he was drinking with a different man. I didn’t have any interaction with him. 

So I had this great father who taught me how to fight and taught me all that. And my mom was just the best. She was like a saint, right, and then she married this guy. That was her knight in shining armor, the 20-year-old retired, you know, navigator. And then he taught me about the Catholic Church, and I fell in love. You know, a woman, my wife, and things like that. 

So I had these cool two dads. One ******, one super soft. Good, you know. Good solid man, right? I had two sisters and a brother older than me, so I was the youngest. So I watched them and said, ” Oh, no, not doing that ****. They got in trouble for that.

Yeah, yeah.

Right. And then I worked my way up. I was Mint, and I got into management. Then I went to work for Pepsi, left Pepsi and started traveling to the 11 Western States. I just had all these great successes. And at work. 

And then, around 2009 or 2008, I met my wife; we had her kids come, and we built and rebuilt the house. We did all these things. I guess my point is that I’m So what I’m proud of in my life is that I just never give up. Right. I’m always fighting. I’m always learning new things. I’m always trying to be a better version of myself. You know, it doesn’t always work. They get worse. Sometimes, they get better. Mostly, you get better, though. 

I’ve met so many freaking people, dude. I always say family is so important, and for most of my friends, I can’t tell you if they’re family or not. The blood doesn’t matter anymore, right? They’re just good people. And you know, my kids are all awesome. My grandkids are all awesome. They’re all working hard. They all did what they needed. They need to do the ones that aren’t doing everything correctly. They know what to do. They’re just having, you know, they’re just sliding a little bit. Only one right now. 

So, I mean, I’ve been blessed. In my life, I haven’t had a lot of problems. I’ve had some trauma that’s happened around me, just like everybody else. And you know. My wife’s awesome. She supports me in anything I want to do. 

So I guess, looking back, I’ve just been so lucky about everything. I am grateful to God, my friends, and all this stuff. And I just think that things will improve, and I will learn some stuff. Am I frustrated? 100% I think frustration is the best teacher in the world. Best motivator.

Yeah, it did.

Right. You see, you are looking at me. You’re like, I don’t like what I see. For three months, I’ve been going to the gym at 5:00 in the morning. You know, I’m still putting on muscle. But I’m still praying. I thank God every week that he keeps me healthy so I can be around for these grandkids and don’t have any illnesses. I don’t have a bad back or bad knees. Bad arms. Nothing. You know what I mean? In the whole scheme of things, if I complain about anything, I should be struck with lightning because that’s what my life is, you know what I mean?

It’s a perfect example of saying earlier that we’re our harshest critics, right? But it’s it; it sounds like you’re saying that the more you prepare, the more you’re willing to work and do the work. I recognize you by your appearance. There’s a lot.

I have learned so many things.

Of famous quotes.

I really shouldn’t learn. Like. I’ll see. I’ll get it with a buddy of mine. That’s my age, and they have no clue how I could. You could do any of this, you know? I mean, I mean, I will. I’ll tell you. That story? When? It was in 1995 when I lost my job. And this guy hired me, he says. Look, if you help me develop this product, I will buy you a computer. I said no, and he said, what do you want? I said I wanted a computer. In 1995, I spent $3800 on a Compaq computer. I go to the store, buy a Computer for Dummies book, and read the book cover. 

So I learned how to use a computer, learned PowerPoint, learned all these other things, all these proprietary software for sales companies, and all this stuff. And I can absorb that stuff like it’s nothing, you know? 

So, I have a video editing thing. I have never done it in my life. I called my daughter-in-law. Which video editing software do you use, Bobby? And I made Bobby read about it. I figured it out. So, I’m resourceful when it comes to that. That’s what my mom and dad telling us. Don’t tell me. I can’t do anything. To fix the car yourself while trying to think. I’m still learning at a high rate, and I think this is the biggest thing I want to do now. Do I want to? I would love to turn this into a full-time job. 

I’d love to turn Speaking into a full-time job. And have a podcast. And when I go, I see some people speak at times, whether in a business situation or not. I look at them and make no offense to them, but I’m like, I’m better. I’m a better speaker than there, right? I’m more articulate. I’m funnier. I move around the stage better. I have a way with the microphone. Once I get it in my hand, I have a presence. When I walk into a room with all those things God’s given me, I didn’t make it up. He’s given me this. Do you know who David Goggins is? 

OK, so He says a great thing when he dies and when he meets God, and he says you can call him whatever you want. But it’s for him. It’s God. He’s going to have two lists. There on the wall. And he will say that David Goggins can have all these things. He accomplished. And David doesn’t want to look at it and say, Well, that’s not me. God, I didn’t do all those things. And God says, I know you were supposed to.

Yeah, it’s a get. There’s a get-check right there. Yeah.

The fact that God’s kept me healthy at this age is the fact that I can go to the gym and do these things. The fact that I have These kids are all healthy, and I’m a parent. I still have responsibilities. To the creator: Right. And it would help me financially, right?

So it’s all these things I want to do, and I want to get other people to see life like that so they can do them too and become the best version of themselves. I know that’s an overused phrase. But it’s so true. You have to do what you have to. You have to get going, man. You can’t. Don’t wait. There’s still time. It doesn’t matter what’s going on in Gaza. You still have to operate here at a high level. It doesn’t matter what’s going on. Because there’s always going to be something going on, right? 

Because as soon as this happens, this happens. War does whatever it does to itself. We’re going to be in election time. Again, and now we’re back to getting beat up. Right. The media is going to beat this up. It would be best if you voted for him. It would be best if you voted for him. This guy’s an *******. This guy’s an *******. This guy’s got girlfriends. Just whatever. And there’s going to be all this stuff coming into your brain again. You got to put up a shield block and get back to you. Because at the end of the day, it’s all on you.

Absolutely. If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me; that is the version I keep hearing. Pray and put the work in. Do what you can. God will do what God can do. I appreciate you coming out. If you want to connect with Ed Franklin, go to edfranklinnolimits.com. Thank you for telling us the secret. Take care of your duties. Take care of yourselves. Be curious. Learn and do the work. Thank you. So much, Ed.

That was appreciated, man.