The Help

I just watched "The Help" tonight and I definitely put it as "must see" for many reasons.  What struck me quickly into the film was just how recent this behavior in America took place.  This wasn't set in the 1800's or even the early 1900's.  This took place in 1960-the decade my parents graduated from high school, a mere 12 years before my brother was born, when JFK was assassinated.  The behavior disgusted me and astounded me that one could put themselves so much higher than another.  I'm not going to give away the movie because you should see it.  But what follows are my thoughts during and after it.  I hope you can reflect on this as well.

Partway during the movie, I began to feel, not guilty, but maybe ashamed of how people with the same amount of pigment in their skin as I treated those who had a different amount.  I choose these words carefully and deliberately.  Why?  There are no different races of people.  There is only one race-the human one.  To categorize someone based solely on their outward appearances goes against everything God ever intended, yet we do it and sometimes without thinking or realizing.  The amount of DNA that sets a person of a darker skin from a lighter skin apart from one another is LESS than the amount of different DNA that sets a person of blue eyes apart from a person with green eyes.  Put that way, it's preposterous to treat someone of darker skin as those they are less than you because you wouldn't make a green eyed person use a different bathroom or ride the back of the bus simply because you yourself deemed that blue eyes were better.  Man choose to make "white" better than "black", certainly not God.  Just remember that Jesus wasn't "white", He was "olive" skinned.  But I cannot be ashamed of how people of my similar "color" treated others more than I can be ashamed that my ancestry has a lot of German lineage in it and that the Germans and Hitler massacred so many because of a difference, not in DNA, but in religion.  (Although Hitler did want the fair skinned, blue eyed German look, if I remember correctly.)  That wasn't my fault anymore than white people deeming themselves better.  What would be my fault is if I choose to believe it.  If, when I noticed someone, I noticed their color first and started to make assumptions.  That's my fault.  Or I see someone struggling, down on their luck, or perhaps "challenged" in some way physically or mentally and choose to make assumptions of them.  Or I think I'm better than someone else and talk about them behind their back.  That's my fault.  My behavior, choices, and attitude are all mine and all something that I can make a difference with.  "It is as I make it."

Skip ahead into the movie a little bit and I'm struck by the fact that those same people who are so fiercely proposing that every house have a "negro" bathroom or that no person of a darker skin should sit at the same table were also the ones who were very willing to discriminate against their "own".  Quick to abandon a "friendship" if someone opposed them or talk about someone behind their back after being so kind to their face.  While how they treated "the help" was much worse, they had it in them to treat their "own" just as bad.  Reminds me of something my mother once told me.  If someone is willing to mistreat an animal, they are just one step behind mistreating a human.  I'll let you see if you see the similarities in the two.  I'd rather be friends with the friendless than be a pretend friend to the most popular person in town.  I know one of those two is much more likely to be loyal and to be a true friend back.  I was never going to be the "popular" one in school, but I sure hope I was the best friend I could be to those I was close to.  But I digress as that is another subject entirely!

Lastly, I realized that this movie isn't about feeling sorry for "the help", being ashamed of the past, or going out and fighting for civil rights.  At least, it wasn't for me.  I don't think that the ladies in the film wanted you to feel sorry for them.  (Sorry don't feed the bulldog.)  They wanted to know that someone cared and they wanted a change.  People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.  It's about what I do, every day, and how I conduct myself.  You don't feel sorry for a cause or situation or person and leave it at that but you have the courage to stand up and say, "Something needs to change.  This isn't right.  Let's do something about it."  Maybe it isn't a big thing that will impact the world or at least you can't tell at the time that it'll change the world.  But you can change the world each and every day.  You reach out and help someone.  Take the time to assist someone, ask them if they need help, or just give them your ear for 5-10 minutes out of your schedule.  Help them become a better them.  See a need; fulfill a need.  Lift up a child and help set them on the right path.  Love others.  Give of yourself.  Be a beacon of light in a world of darkness.  Do what Jesus did.  He didn't sit in the temple all day preaching.  He went out among the masses, talked with them, showed them He cared.  The lasting impact of Christ's ministry went well beyond His 33 years.  People are still talking about Him thousands of years later.  Me?  I'll never be famous, I'll never make lots of money in the job I have.  But the one thing that I think I'll do is change the world, or least a very tiny part of it.  So how do I believe I'm helping the world?  What's my difference maker?  To each and every camper who comes into my barn-I will try my best to make time for them.  To show the love of God to them and make them feel special in that one moment in time, in that "one-on-one" time.  They will leave knowing that at least one person in this world truly cared for them, listened to them, and wanted the best.  It's saddening but I know that many of these kids don't get it at home.  And they come from "good" homes, ones with money.  But they lack love.  They lack attention.  So if they go out into the world knowing that at least one person cared for them, I know that's going to help them, to help them change the world around them, and maybe make the world a little bit of a better place.  It's hard sometimes and tiring oftentimes and I know that some kids will be missed and maybe I didn't get a chance with them.  But it's not me doing it for them, it's God working through me and everyone else around me. I'm trying, in my very limited earthly ways, to make a difference.                                                

Be a difference.  Be THE difference.

 "Be the change you want to see in the world."

"If not now, when?  If not here, where?  If not me, who?"

Always an Adventure with Amie and Me!

Today, Amie and I were amazing.  She'll tell you it was me; I'll tell you it was great teamwork.  Yeah, so this may not be very "humble" of me but I sure wish we had had a video camera.  Amie and I make a great team but it does seem as though it's always an adventure.  Today was no different.  We wish we'd started writing these adventures down earlier.  I think it's the animal component that makes everything an adventure.

We were trying to catch the momma kitty and her kittens that had taken up residence in my garage.  They were wild, very wild and I had never been able to get close to them.  So I fed them until we had finally caught up with a lady in Remington who was going to take all our stray cats that had taken up residence at camp.  The kittens were relatively "easy" to catch despite being very very mad to be caught.  Then it was on to the momma cat who was currently laying in the rafters, in the little overhang.  So I climbed up on the freezer and attempted the first of many tries to catch her.  Unfortunately we found out that she could run along the "overhang" under the rafters on the sides of the garage.  She ran back and forth along the rafters from one side of the garage to the other side as we attempted to trap her in one section of the overhang.  At one point, Amie decided that an overturned bucket on top of my cooler would make a good "ladder".  So everywhere the cat went, we dragged our "ladder" to where she was and I climbed up and attempted to block her.  Unfortunately, my ladder wasn't exactly tall enough to get me a good angle on her since I had to reach up and then down into the overhang.  But that didn't stop the two of us.  She had a fishing net to nab her if I was able to shoo her out with my broom.  A few back and forths across the garage and we finally had her in a corner near the door.  I had tried shoving my wreath into the overhang to prevent her from going under.  I was standing on my step stool and decided to try to make a grab for her (wearing my extra heavy winter gloves).  I tried, she ran under the wreath, and I lost my bucket.  In a move you normally see in the movies, I grabbed onto the rafter with my left hand and was left hanging as my bucket fell and cooler slid away,  (I would have loved to seen a picture of this!)  screaming Amie's name because she was following the cat.  I don't remember thinking, "It feels like I'm falling, grab onto rafters".  I just....did.  Just like in the movies when the hero is thrown off the side and they somehow grab onto something at the last second to keep from falling.  I didn't think you could react that quick.  I don't remember seeing the rafter....I just grabbed.  Anyways, that's not the whole story.  After I got back to solid ground and thanked the good Lord for quick reflexes, we were back to catching the cat.  She, by now, is on the garage door side of the garage and the next few minutes find me going from rafter to rafter, using the door to put my feet on, monkeying around the garage trying to find out where in the overhang she was.  I located her, almost caught her again, but she got by me and Amie *almost* had her with the fish net.  So close again....but we missed.  Fast forward a few more minutes and I had her back in the same corner where I almost met the concrete.  This time I stuffed the wreath and a coffee can into the hole.  I decided to forget the broom, forget the towel I was going to wrap around her, and make one last attempt to grab her with my hand.  (The other hand was holding onto the rafter!)  Whenever I popped over the ledge and saw her face to face, I prayed she didn't attack my face.  Anyways, I wait for it, wait for it, and then reached over and grabbed her by the scruff of her neck.  I had her!  Now what?  She is very mad and Amie was screaming at me, "What do you want me to do?  What do you want me to do?  Tell me!"  As I held onto the cat, steadied myself on the bucket, and held onto the rafter, I yelled at her to hold out the net.  I threw the cat into the net, she flipped it over so that the opening was now against the ground, and I grabbed the towel and jumped on top of her and wrapped her up.  Amie and I gingerly carried the cat/net combo to the truck and to the dog carrier.  We finagled the net into the carrier, dumped her, and then wiggled the net back out without her escaping.  Whew!  We had a done it.  Not without frustration, near injury, and choice words though, but we captured her.  It took about 1/2 hour to do so.  Not bad in my book.  Then we were full of laughter and cheers and lots of high fives for one another.  Always an adventure....always.  (Combine that with yesterday's run through the woods to try to cut off runaway ponies).  I wouldn't do it with anyone else though.

A best friend is someone who, when you have a crazy idea, says, "Heck, why not?!"  

Christmas Video

Each year, I make a Christmas video for the camp Christmas party.  I think I started in either 2007 or 2008.  (Whatever year was my last year of having a desktop which made the project much harder.  Laptops are awesome!)  Program folks (OE, Retreats, TLC, EQ, and Directors) at camp get noticed more and are more in the "public eye".  Public here meaning campers and guests.  But the program folks can't do their job as well as they do it if there weren't a whole team of people behind them getting everything done (plus their spouses behind them).  Everyone from maintenance to housekeeping to office to kitchen staff are so needed that their value is priceless.  If we had to worry about getting cabins cleaned after each group, taking phone calls, or making meals, we would never get to running the programs.  This is where we are blessed.  Other camps have so few full time staff that their staff has to do "double duty", doing multiple jobs around camp.  The summer staff get a video at the end of the summer but there is nothing for everyone who makes camp go all year long.  I wanted to recognize them while also remembering all the events of the year.  If you step back from the year, there are so many little things that happen day in and day out that we forget about and there are so many changes and events that happen throughout the year that help us remember where we've been so that we can be grateful for where we are now.  This year was a little rough from time to time.  Storms and other issues made the day to day a little harder.  It never affected the experience, it just took its toll on those giving the experience.  God made it evident with each passing day that it wasn't us, but that He was using us to do His work.  When work got hard, He picked us up and carried us in His arms.  And that was how this video went for me.  It wasn't easy this year.  It was tough to even get going on the video and I did it in a short amount of time.  I questioned if people even wanted to see it or if they got tired of it.  Tonight reaffirmed that I don't do this for me, I do it to glorify God for our year and for our people (who told me that they look forward to it).  So I guess I have the job for a while.

While this year's video will need a few edits before it goes viral (some stuff was just to be between camp people ;-)  ), I can post last year's video.  As I looked back on the years, I can tell that I've gotten better at the whole video thing.  Thanks to folks for some of the pictures including our "technology" staff from the summer, "stolen" face book photos (I asked!), Vince, and then my own stash of photos.  Thanks to our entire staff at camp for doing your job like it's more than just a job, for giving of your time and energy to serve others, and being there for one another day in and day out.

Christmas 2010 Video

Tolerance, Politics, and the Muppets

It should come as no surprise that I am conservative.  I am not a liberal in my ideals and beliefs.  So what do I believe in, politically speaking and how does this relate to the Muppets?  (I'll answer the first question now, the second in a bit.)  I believe in small government.  I don't want the government to be meddling in my affairs and I don't want the government to be handing out "benefits" left and right, bailing out companies and handing out welfare checks to any Tom, Dick, or Harry.  I say Merry Christmas and God bless you.  I believe that our country had every right to go into Afghanistan and Iraq and hunt down those cowards who attacked our country 10 years ago.  I support the right to bear arms and would cringe if law abiding citizens were denied that right.  I don't think that health insurance is a right.  I think it's ridiculous that citizens of this country who pay taxes, work hard, and earn a honest living pay for, well, everything of those who are not citizens, don't pay taxes, or live off of the government.  We are all to be "tolerant" of every other religion, system of belief, and lifestyle choice but it seems to me that Christians are the least tolerated out there.  There is no public outcry when the Koran is taught in class but God forbid we "meet at the pole", say "Merry Christmas", or try to talk about the Bible.  Christ was the most tolerant of those who walked the earth.  He reached out to the Jews, Pharisees, Sadducees, the prostitute, and the tax collector.  I'm not talking about religious fanatics preaching doom and gloom to all.  I'm talking about those who realize that all of us are sinners and none of us are perfect and we are just trying to live our lives the best we can and we aren't tolerated for what we believe in.  I believe in absolute truths, not relative truths.  So yes, I believe that not all ideals are equal but I don't go around yelling at all those who don't believe the same way I do.  This country was built on Christian principles and Thomas Jefferson didn't want religion to be totally separate from government; he just didn't want a government run church.  That was what our founders had fled. They wanted freedom to make their own choice. So let the nativity go up in the town square next to the Santa who's next to the menorah.  Let "In God we trust" and "One nation under God" stay.  Put up a Easter bunny in your yard and a witch in your tree at Halloween because I don't care if you do and it certainly does not offend me.  Just allow me to put up my cross, my nativity, and don't raise a ruckus.  That's true tolerance.  But I digress......

Being that I am conservative and believe more so in the ideals of the Republican party than the Democrat, I vote for the "right".  I don't like Obama and so far the only thing about him that I agree with is re-opening the horse slaughter plants (read earlier post).  He doesn't support Israel, refuses to put his hand over his heart for the pledge and anthem (who doesn't do that?!), and, well, I just don't agree with anything that comes out of his mouth or he stands for.  I know that many made fun of George Bush's way, his personality, his intelligence but I respected this man for his political beliefs just as much as for his religious beliefs.  (Remember that it takes about 8 years for an economic plan to reach full potential and he was simply trying to fix what the previous president had set in motion.)  He didn't do everything right but he led this country during hard times.  I look at the current pool of candidates and I'm not impressed.  I see democrats and republicans setting laws into motion that they don't have to abide by (Health care?), trying to fix the economy while making sure that their retirement pensions are fine (serve one term, get that salary for life?  What!?), and being above the law (just read about several accused of insider trading from all parties).  I don't see selfless, giving politicians concerned for the welfare of their constituents.  I see selfish, greedy, politicians doing whatever they can to do absolutely nothing but find themselves not seeing the big picture.  They think they do us good by giving us more "rights", welfare, etc but they aren't solving the underlying problem.  Don't treat the symptom, find a cure.  I'm looking for a visionary.  Someone who can truly fix this country's woes by inspiring the people to take responsibility for their own actions and not have the government bail them out.  Someone who will force businesses to also take responsibility.  You know what?  If I don't have money, it's because I spent it all.  No one else should bail me out of my mistake.  Maybe I'm not looking for one person, but I'm looking for a team.  One who's the visionary, another with financial prowess, another versed in constitutional law, and so on and so forth.  I just want someone who'll take us back to the basics, the foundation of this country.  But where is this person?

I am a huge fan of the Muppets.  I watched the Muppets show growing up and the Muppets Christmas Carol is the best Christmas movie ever.  Watching the show was a surefire way to get a deep contagious laughter or a case of the giggles from me.  Listening to the old guys make fun of the rest of the Muppets, the facial gestures that conveyed so much, and the little one liners......ah, I love it.  I can't wait to see the movie.  I read an article this morning that said that Fox analysts were declaring that the Muppets were brainwashing our kids against corporate America.  Huh?  Their reason?  The "evil" guy in the movie is a rich Texas oilman.  Really Fox?  I like Fox News because it isn't as frustrating to listen too as those other networks (CNN, MSNBC) which, in my opinion, are biased too heavily to the left for my liking.  (Yes, Fox is biased too but being that I like how they are biased, I like it! :-)  )  But really?  Every movie has to have a big bad evil guy that the good guys have to rally against.  Are they brainwashing our kids?  Are they biased against corporate America?  Whatever.  It's a movie folks.  Get over it, enjoy it.  And if you are letting a child's (and big kids too!) movie sway your beliefs or believe that a 2 hour movie will brainwash your child, then maybe you really shouldn't be watching it.  That just means more seats for me to choose from when I go watch it.  My closing thought?  I don't think I have a clever one liner to end this.  I've said my peace.  I don't talk politics because people get too emotionally charged over it or get offended if you believe differently.  So there you have it.  I'll sign off for now.  After I see the movie Saturday, I'll let you know if I've been brainwashed.  Although if I've been brainwashed, will I know?  I'll never know.........                                                                                                            

1000 people!

This is a quick post just to say that, at this moment, 12:08 pm on Tuesday December 6th, 2011, 1,000 people have read my blog.  :-)

Tribute to a Friend

Love you buddy

Today, in a word, sucked.  Pardon the language, but sometimes the word fits.  My friend to pay tribute to?  Tuff, a 20+ year old grade gelding, exited this world and went to the heavenly pastures.  Over a month ago while on a trail ride, Tuff's right hind leg appeared to lock up and he could no longer move on the ride.  The rider dismounted and, after some encouraging, I finally got Tuff back up to the barn.  He was in obvious discomfort and we had the vet out a few days later.  He said that Tuff had probably incurred a chip to either his hip or knee cap and that chip was floating around, causing his pain.  A week of banamine to see if there was a chance for the chip to move out and be reabsorbed was our only real course of action.  I crossed my fingers, but I knew that there wasn't much of a chance that this would work.  I knew that he would never be ridden again.  While he could still walk around (with some difficulty), it was becoming obvious that life would only become more difficult for him.  After much deliberation and heartache, the gut wrenching decision was made to put Tuff down.  While it was the right decision, it was extremely hard.

Tuff and Cupid-Best Friends

What made Tuff different?  Tuff came to us in August of 2005 from a Wyoming ranch along with 4 other horses. He was the last Wyoming horse left at camp.  One became extremely lame and had to go, one died of colic, another of a rare liver disease, and the other grew too tired of camp life and had to find a new home.  He was the last of his friends.  Tuff fit right into the routine of camp right away.  He was an equestrian camp horse by summer and trail ride horse the rest of the year.  He even led out the 2nd string rides on 30 horse weekends.  I never saw anything ruffle this guy's feathers.  He never did anything silly or stupid with a camper or guest on him.  While he had his annoying little quirks at times (deworming wasn't easy and he was a slow eater), he never did anything stupid period.  What will always stand out to me was an incident a few years back.  I was holding onto the gate hook of the electric fence trying to let part of the herd out into the pasture as Tuff was standing close to the opening drinking out of the trough.  A particularly stupid horse was running around and got a little too close to me and caught his back foot on part of the electro-braid.  To keep myself from getting tangled up, I threw the gate rope away from me and as the horse ran into the pasture, the gate rope got kicked up from the horse and wrapped itself completely around Tuff's neck.  What do you think Tuff did?  Nothing.  He stood there at the water trough and looked at me to come help him.  Any other horse would have freaked out and ran off, damaging the fence and hurting themselves.  He didn't.  He was unflappable. Amazing in my book.  From then on, he had me.  He had my heart.  I knew I could put anybody on him and nothing bad would happen to them.  As close to bomb proof as I would ever call a horse.  From the way he and Cupid demonstrated a relationship that most humans would be jealous of to his slow and patient way with beginners, he was a horse with no price tag.  Earth lost a horse, heaven gained an angel.    RIP 12/5/2011