A Letter From Mike Kaplan 2012

I was in the viewing audience on February 25, 2011, as The Scary Guy was a featured speaker at the Spring 2011 Falcon Heritage Forum at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Before his arrival, I didn’t know who he was, but the information I read was interesting and I wanted to see Scary and listen to his message. As he walked into the auditorium, all present, which were mostly Air Force Academy cadets, went silent.

Here comes this heavily tattooed guy, wearing a black leather jacket and wearing sunglasses, speaking in a low voice, menacing, direct. I felt as these cadets were scared to death and to be honest, he had my attention too! Well, off came the glasses off came the coat and here’s a man wearing a shirt covered in patches, mainly law enforcement patches, and he started to speak.

To speak of his life story, of hatred, of bullying, of his 7-day 7-night challenge. He spoke of his mission to eliminate hate, violence, and prejudice throughout the world. His voice changed and he, in a way I’ve never experienced before, spoke to everyone as if you were sitting across a table from him, interviewing you, trying to learn about you. He wants you to, with his gentle heart, accept people for who they are and to not judge the book by the cover. He wants you to eliminate hatred; he wants you to love and to eliminate negativity in your personality and your spoken words and physical actions, as it starts with you.

He tasks you, he demands from you to accept his 7-day challenge, to not speak badly about someone and to not insult. If you do, you apologize and start again. He wants you to understand that if someone speaks badly to you or about you, you must uphold your personal integrity and understand they have the problem, not you. And what did Scary teach me? In a nutshell, to accept. I’m not out to change people but to understand their concerns and their problems.

I’ve experienced and now better understand so many things since Scary was here. I’ve been the recipient of hatred, bullying, verbal altercations and abuse and my response? To not throw it back but to truly recognize, they have a problem and I’m not going to fall into their traps. And I then walk away. It takes greater courage to live the mentality of Scary’s World Peace than to fall deeper into where society is headed, a death spiral of what Scary is trying to stop.

The message is clear, stop hatred and change minds. You may lose friends but were they really your friends? Do you want to live an angry life? Scary wants you to change and to help others change. A difficult but attainable goal, to create a mindset that results in a better home & family, community & school, workplace, coexistence and a better life. I will continue to follow and learn from The Scary Guy because he’s truly figured it out. You need to hear The Scary Guy.

Mike Kaplan, Colorado Springs, Colo.