What does it take to be a badass?

From my personal experience a badass possesses a certain amount of recklessness and confidence that most people don't. My husband has always been one and, yes, he was the same way as a child according to his brothers. He would take any dare, has never backed down from anyone in his life, enlisted in the Army at 17 and did two tours in Nam. After being discharged he rode with various motorcycle clubs over the years, had badass bikers working for him when he was a general contractor and had a reputation that was both good and bad. Today, at 61 and disabled with various health conditions, instead of kicking back...going fishing or taking it easy...we own a chopper shop where he builds bikes. He rides his Harley just about every day even though he has severe arthritis in his lower back and hip. He doesn't start trouble, he's actually very charismatic, but even at his current age and condition, he wouldn't consider backing down if someone challanged him.

Even in the animal kingdom there are badasses. I see the badass chimps on television and they are really badasses and can kill other chimps and bad thing is that there are no chimp cops to stop them.