“The Maltese” The Chopper Kingdoms "Iron Cross"

I have slowly gathered an infinity or errant divine for the Maltese Cross. I picked the symbol to round out a street tag for Peace-Up. This was in 2001; with my brother Adam while designing a logo to help seed the concept, propagate a movement, and add visual aide to the life of Peace-Up, then the first writing Earth. I began by creating a peace sign followed by “up” with a Maltese above the word “up” as a point of unity and truth. During the rise in popularity of the Maltese cross, pushed by the chopper culture, my curiosity to know more about this symbol and its history was spurred to an all time high. I asked my father if he could do an online search on a special Maltese I had purchased. The cross was coated with black enamel with a brass weave edging the outside. The center of the cross held a bronze disk with inscriptions: starting from the top the first pictorial was the eye in the sky, under this were three circles each with a letter, “F”, “L”, and “T”. The bottom of the disk contained skull and cross bones: furthermore, the entire finished product could be considered a key chain or pendant. I bought the Maltese the day before I purchased my KZ1100 in 2004’ I made it to the “Rhody Run” that year on my birthday, thus began my unofficial prospect for the Hells Angels motor cycle club. The three letters represented words: faith, loyalty, and truth. These words give weight to the term or state of honor. I defined the state of honor as so, “To do what must be done an expression of duty, loyalty and love.”

            Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. By faith in the Lords plan and Jesus do I step over and over into dark places searching for suffering spirits that I may be a tangible positive friend. I have moved mountains rock by rock, and have seen the plains and hills shaken by a whispered prayer. Only by keeping faith will I move forward to the next challenge, lesson, or goal. This seed has become the wings of freedom for my soul during song, a freedom that is hard to describe without music accompaniment.

            Loyalty is in the center as well it should be. Loyalty is of duty; a steadfast faithfulness the hold the line till the end, it is an endurance of suffering that creates character. It is what a visionary expresses when he knows the goal is worthy and noble. Loyalty is pledged by a knight to his king, and what gives strength to an army. It is what a king must keep in his thoughts about the very least of his subjects, so they maybe best served by his decrees. Loyalty is brotherhood.

            Truth, the final moment where judgment looms, or freedom reigns. The home is started on the cornerstone of truth. To know faith is to see truth going beyond the self. To walk with the old code as a knight, truth must be worn as a cape, covering all, and defining our march. Truth never changes, or loses its merit. To thine own self be true.

            The Maltese cross originates from the island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. It refers to a Sect of crusaders that originally were stationed in Jerusalem, the knights of Saint John, the Hospitallers. The knights were forced to leave the Holy Land in 1291 and relocated on the island of Cyprus. In 1309 they took the island of Rhodes until 1522. They re-established their head quarters on the island fortress of Malta in 1503. There they stayed never defeated until Napoleon won the isle during his campaign for world dominance. The island was returned to the knights after his defeat. I am a knight of the sovereign military order of Saint John; furthermore, I am the Maltese.

Thor