Mike Humfreville
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Fair Weather Friends
Mary Ann does volunteer work at the Ventura County fair every year in the large livestock office and auction. Michael and Kevin and she and I were in
4-H until the boys grew out of it. But we stay in touch with the 4-H crew. I went to the fairgrounds this afternoon to see what kind of trouble I
could get into. MA was at a pause-point in her busy day and the two of us, with Michael attached for a bit, wandered the grounds and watched the
myriad folks and attractions and listened to the music imported from the Andes and the sales hype from the vendors and food booths.
The afternoon rodeo was just beginning in the main arena. We can?t see it from the main street where we are walking but we can hear the roar of the
incoming crowd filling blank spots in the arena seating. We?re a relatively rural county; we love the rodeo.
Mary Ann and I are standing in the shade of a wanna-be, gringo palapa, the kind that throws shade but is made of steel and plastic tarp. Not as
aesthetically pleasing as palm fronds over cactus ribs but it serves the same purpose. I?m lost in thought, looking in the direction of the ocean,
toward the main arena. Then I notice everyone is looking skyward. I step outside the cover to see what they?re looking at. It?s a parachutist.
He?s part of the show obviously and falling landward with one of the new high-tech chutes that is maneuverable to an inch of your desired landing site
and he?s got, hanging from beneath him, a Mexican Flag the approximate size of ?Mexico.
The worthy amplifiers of the main arena begin playing a song I have loved since I first heard it, many years ago. It?s called ?God Bless the USA?,
AKA ?I?m Proud to be an American,? by Lee Greenwood.
The chutist is falling rapidly earthward, under full control and I?m watching the Mexican flag furling and we can?t see the place where he will land
in the arena but the music, broadcast throughout the fairgrounds from a song so close at times it is bringing tears to my eyes and I reflect that it?s
wonderful to share our perceptions of our country with our neighbors. Even if unintentionally. Or by accident.
The chutist lands out of my vision and I notice that the song is repeating the last portion, several times. Then everyone is looking skyward once
again. Another chute is deployed and this time an American flag of the same size is falling downward, off the foot of another diver. The volume of
the song increases and I put my sunglasses on so I can find the guy in the sky and see our flag falling to earth and I am absorbing the words of the
song and crying, tears falling, God, where others will see them, beyond the guises of my darkened glasses. What a hot trip. I ask myself where are
we going as a nation in our ability to lead. Not with a populace of overabundance but by example. I reflect that if I am going to win something I
want it to be a thing I merit in the eyes of others. If it is worldly competition I want to win in the eyes of the world. I realize I can?t change
events important to me and go back to the fair in my mind.
Tonight, MA is home after a week?s work that is hurting her legs and causing other problems. We?re watching the Olympics on TV. We win and others
win and I?m thinking we need more of the Win-Win deal on our Earth. I hope for all of us that we, as individual races and nations, can learn to get
along, to respect each other for what we are and learn to live with what we are not.
I had to wait tonight until I had time to digest all my day?s adventures, until late. Not to define the moments in words, but to summarize them. I
was in bed actually, reading my own work and planning in background for my tomorrow meeting at the Lab. But then I realized my wish. Here it is:
We should promote love and abolish hatred.
[Edited on 8-16-2004 by Mike Humfreville]
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Skeet/Loreto
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Thank You Mike!
As I wonder through this Board nearly every day in the Wee Hours of the Morning, the Phrase"Faith Hope and Charity" keeps coming into my Mind>
Love Conquers All!!
God Bless You.
Skeet
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academicanarchist
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Skeet
Thanks for the story, and Skeet ditto on your words.
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BajaGrrls
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That's a great story. I had a similar experience last week as I was waiting for a subway train. I looked over and saw that the woman sitting next to
me was studying for her citizenship test. She looked at me and smiled and I smiled back. I ask her when she was taking the test and she told me in
broken English that she had just given her fingerprints, but wanted to take the test in a few weeks. The train was coming so I said, "Good luck on
your test." She smiled and gave me the most sincere look and said, "Thank you very much."
I rode to work thinking about this woman and how we all have dreams. Shouldn't we, as humans, be working harder to lift each other up instead of
putting each other down? In the end, we all want the same thing. Happiness.
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Bob H
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Mike, I too love to hear Lee Greenwood belt that song out. The words are very touching. The last sentence in many of your stories over the years
really grab you, but this one is just perfect for the story you told. "We should promote love and abolish hatred."
Sitting around the camp fire in Baja with friends, old and new, telling stories is the most uplifting feeling for me. These are some of the best
times and memories I have of the many people I've met over the years and camped with.
Keep up the great work.
Bob H
The SAME boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It's about what you are made of NOT the circumstance.
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Debra
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Way to go Putz! Now you got me bubbering,
I always cry when I hear that song. 
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Mike Humfreville
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Registered: 8-26-2003
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Stop Blubbering...
and write another piece to your thread. Have you noticed that you have almost a thousand hits?
Thanks to all of you for the kind words.
[Edited on 8-17-2004 by Mike Humfreville]
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