Sippin On The KTC Kool-aid – How One Man Overcame Adversity

Lumberjack Tim HOF Speech

Sippin on the KTC Kool-aid…

Hey everyone, I’m Lumberjack Tim, and I’m a nicotine addict.

There are a lot of amazing quitters who walk these halls… Some are very vocal, and some are the type that creep in the shadows and wait until someone needs help. Either way, they’re people that you can rely on. Throughout my stay here thus far, I have been blessed that the many amazing quitters here have taken me under their wing.

If I’ve learned one thing, it’s that helping people, especially those who REALLY need your help, can be tiresome. Even more tiresome than that are the ones who simply don’t get it. They think they have everything figured out, but they don’t. There’s a quote from the movie Jerry Maguire that basically sums up how it feels to continually help those who don’t seem to want the help that they sincerely need, and it is:

Jerry Maguire

Dec 6 1996, 06:06 PM

I am out here for you. You don’t know what it’s like to be ME out here for YOU. It is an up-at-dawn, pride-swallowing siege that I will never fully tell you about, ok? Help me… help you. Help me, help you.

Now… Some of you may be asking, “Why Tim? Why are you telling us all of this?”

I’m telling you this because I WAS one of those hard headed quitters. Specifically, a hard headed June Goon of 2015. But I didn’t really care, and my reasons for quitting were good enough for me.

Boy… I should’ve really listened… But because I didn’t, I caved. I threw away 25 days of being quit. That was the worst decision that I have ever made in my life. Every single person who was there beside me and supporting me had that Jerry Maguire line running through their head, but luckily, I was blessed with the opportunity to rise from the ashes.

Many cavers fail and then come back half a man (or woman) and seemingly never recover because they don’t change their ways. They simply continue down the same path that lead each of them to cave in the first place.

The rest of the cavers? They make a full recovery and they become quitters forever instead of simply being a “stopper”.

Well now you may be wondering, “Well what do they do differently?” Well, they get a good dose of the KTC kool-aid. When a caver is wallowing in their own ashes, quitters from all across the site will come and deliver a dose of said kool-aid so that they will hopefully realize the errors that they had in their time before caving. The ones who succeed are the ones who accept this kool-aid and partake of it.

So where do I fit in? Well I sort of fit in with the second group. The only difference is that Romandog, a veteran from the July 2011 group, tripped on the way to pour me a glass of that KTC kool-aid. Romandog, as graceful as he is, couldn’t recover, and he accidentally dumped the whole pitcher on me instead of just a glass.

Do any of you know the story behind The Hulk? Well, basically, Bruce Banner was studying gamma radiation. The bad part of that is that he was struck with a gamma bomb that went off while testing it. The good part was that it gave him powers he thought he would never have, and he used them to his advantage.

So what I’m trying to say is… When Romandog dumped way too much kool-aid on me, it gave me such a vengeful spirit to come back with a bang, that it gave me the mental fortitude to help almost every single person on the site, along with my current group, the Juvenile Jackals of July 2015.

As I write this, I show support in 37 different groups. I do this, not because I have to, but because I want to. I make it a point to try and show support in every group that contains a person that has helped me along the way. This site has given me not only a new life, but a new meaning of life. Showing support everywhere is the least that I could do.

When I think about all of the love that gets thrown my way, and the love I show to others, all I think of is “How can I make a difference? How can I improve someone’s life in a way that will enable them to be a quitter, and not just a stopper?” I also think about all of the people that I can reach out to should a problem arise in my own life.

But above all, I think of all of the people I can help. I send my number to a new person every day. I try to get it out to at least every single new guy, but I simply can’t catch up sometimes. I do this because it makes me happier than a fat kid eating cake. To see those that I am helping succeed is one of the greatest feelings that I have ever felt.

I want to do this forever. No, I will do this forever. I will continue sending my number to new quitters every single day. I will continue increasing the amount of groups that I support as well because every time a new group pops up, I’m there. Plus, every time a veteran of the site helps me, I’ll go and begin to post in there as well.

There are so many people that I want to thank, but I know that I will miss some, and I apologize if I do.

First, thank you Romandog. Without you being there and shoving your boot all the way up until I tasted it, I wouldn’t be here today. I would also like to add the rest of July 2011 here too. Lazytrader, CORNWALLACE, and Jfosh, you have all been mentors to me and the tips that each of you have given me have helped beyond description. You have all been like a quit father to me, and I hope that I can go out and adopt a new quitter like y’all have, whether y’all wanted to or not.

Candoit, thank you for showing me around the site when I first joined. You pointed me in certain directions that allowed me to read and learn about the history of this site. Without that, without planting the seeds of the past into my mind, I wouldn’t feel as connected to this site as I do today.

To the June Goons, I regret caving in your group almost every day, but by allowing me to prove myself once again and supporting me, you have made me stronger each day. Special thank you to Dano and JKE, because both of you have been a huge part of my success.

Mcarmo, thank you for being another guide for me. You have helped show me the past of this site, and you’ve been there every step of the way. I can’t thank you enough for all that you’ve done for me.

To the April Apes of 2015, thank you all so very much. You have all been like big brothers to me, and I can NEVER repay or thank you enough for that. I love each and every one of you, Jerk, TLOC, GA, Jeff, etc etc etc. I could name your whole group… But I think we can all agree that it would be a shame to not specifically thank Pab. You have been a true friend to not only me, but every single quitter here. You are a constant help in the intros, and I’m sure that the day you write your own speech, it’ll be one of the most read speeches ever.

Thank you to Kramer, Tom8675309, IDWC, and the rest of May 2015. Each of you have helped me as well.

Special thanks to Medley, Basshaug, Gmann, BBJ, Duathman, Chewie, Tuco, Ricky Martin, Roy, SFGE, Worktowin, and every single quitter that started both before and after me, but especially those who started after me. Whether you are here now, or you’re reading this 5 years from now, you have helped by simply allowing me to help you.

Lastly, and greatest of all, I’d like to thank my entire group, the Juvenile Jackals of July 2015. Every single one of you have helped me. I have grown to love each of you, and quite possibly too much. I would call out certain Jackals, but I feel as if that would be unfair, because that’s like a dad saying which one of his sons are his favorite. The ones that I would like to specifically thank, you know who you are.

So again, thank you so much for allowing me to quit with y’all. This site has been a blessing to me, and I thank God every day that I was lead here.

To the new quitters, you can succeed as long as you get on every single day and post roll as soon as you wake up. On top of that, branch out to other groups. I encourage you to post in at least every group that shares the same name as you. For example, I post in every July group that’s still open from 2015-2007. The more people you come in contact with, the more likely you’ll succeed.

Lastly to the new guys, give back what you’ve been given, or will be getting. If you receive a text every single day from someone who knows you’re struggling, then send a text every single day to someone else who is struggling just as you are. Like I said before, the more you do on here, the more likely you’ll succeed.

I know this is long, but were you really expecting anything less from me? Again, I thank you all for being here with me every step of the way. I have 100+ days down solely because of your support, now let me show the love back to everyone else for the next 15,000+ days.

Thank you,

Lumberjack Tim — Tim Gaskins

NOTE: This piece written by KillTheCan.org forum member Lumberjack Tim