A guide of what not to do and say when asked to be best man.

Aside from gourmet food, fine wine and extravagant table décor there is only one reason why wedding reception overshadows ceremony as highlight of day. The speeches.

Food is hurried; nerves are frail, and double amount of booze is consumed on head table than anywhere else in room. Video cameras are set to record and speakers themselves are set to entertain. The best man’s speech in particular must be witty, interesting, and profound. The closing and deciding chapter in his duties as, well, best man.

More often than not, best man will lack public speaking experience, and fear sets in as commonplace reaction. But with thorough preparation and research, anyone can shine. Anyone can rise to occasion.

But what happens when best man hasn’t prepared at all? When best man was never asked to do a speech until a microphone was thrust in his hand at last second, to discover a room full of expectant faces gazing up at him? How interesting can it be? The answer is very.

I flew from Birmingham, England, to land in Atlanta, Georgia, greeted by Shane (the groom) and his bride to be Kirsty with great anticipation. Shane was an old school friend. He’d asked me to be best man, when his only love interest was a 4-ft poster of Yasmine Bleeth, of course I accepted. And now I was to live out honour.

The wedding was two days away, and much still remained to do with little time to do it. Dress rehearsals to rehearse, and seating plans to plan. Yet as trans-Atlantic best man, my call of duty was merely to don tails, hold rings, and wish them all best.

The speeches, I was advised earlier, would be merely a toast. It wasn’t customary in United States, or at least in Kirsty’s family, to deliver anything other than my congratulations. So I relaxed, marinated my pasty skin with sun oil, and soaked up southern atmosphere. The next day was spent golfing with groom’s father, discussing merits of his son’s newly acquired green card, and sending a few Budweiser’s home.

I thought perhaps I could put a new face on old writing and connect with some like minded people. In two years since Al Qaeda attacks on Eleven September, message remains same. The U.S. Government is impotent to protect anyone from this new kind of warfare. Also, that only effective defense is personal self defense; much of which should be obvious.

If you insist upon living and working in a known or likely target area, your odds of a happy, productive future, plummet like towers. You become a volunteer for martyrdom; for what or whom? America decided best act of defiance was to get back to business as usual. The idea that suing for peace at start of a war, was a practical option, did not appeal to public or leadership. A bad situation was made worse. Senator Joseph Biden recently summed up how it works. He does not regret authorizing an incompetent President to go to war. He only regrets President is incompetent. You can’t be more double minded than that.

President Bush wants another five years to teach us that throwing all money in world at national security will make no difference, except to bankrupt Western Civilization. Since this is a stated goal of Al Qaeda, it's clear we are all fighting a war against Western Civilization - and winning.

We all understand huge gap between people of West and rulers of West. That's why our global enemies sincerely tell us not to take it personally; that they only see one way to affect change in ruling policy. The question for people of West is whether they owe a duty to go down with ship. Is it cowardice to survive fall of Western Civilization? Is it dishonor to tend to one's self and loved ones, when "leadership" just wants to get on with fireworks?

Personally, I believe in survival. I want a shot at doing things right - next time. I'm searching for others who know or sense it is time to bail out of a ship, so low in water, under fire, day in, day out, from without and from within. All warriors know is how to make holes bigger and they are hard at it. There is no wisdom in leadership today. Is there any left among people?

Since I have no profession beyond Christian faith, lifesaving can be no more than a hobby for me. The World Wide Web presents an opportunity for me to popularize this hobby. The potential is there to save millions of lives. Even as an amateur life saver, I am an unlikely candidate. I have a temporary visual impairment that prevents me from finding places I could be posting my warnings, exhortations and encouragements, to take care of business; while there is still business to take care of.