*This message was transferred with a trial version of CommuniGate(tm) Pro*
In a message dated 1/8/00 12:47:08 PM Central Standard Time,
jburrill@dttus.com writes:
<< What alternate kind of event could we put on for the spectators?
Crushing stacks of 55 Gal drums? Pushing through a cinderblock wall?
>>
Excuse me for asking, but I am cranky today, and out of sorts, and tired of
everyone thinking everyone needs to DO something............Why do you feel
the need to put on any sort of exhibition for anyone?
I dont quite know what impresses men, (other then car crushing and opening
beer cans with your teeth) ( maybe you could paint tanks and trucks with big
breasted women, like the nose art on WW2 fighter planes), but, just an
observation from a female-type mom, and an occasional spectator at life, why
not just clean out anything dangerous and sharp, and take small kids for a
ride, or even just let them climb inside, outside, around side for a bit?
When I am not being bitchy and female, I am a firefighter/medic. Once a
year, my old department throws a Fire Prevention party for the community. We
have hot dogs, we have clowns, we have funny little robot dalmations and fire
plugs (and trust me, I have spent hours at the controls trying to get
"Sparky" to do what all dogs do naturally to fire plugs......unsuccessfully
to date), we have exhibits and prizes and games and you name- it-all
available............
What do the kids like best ( and, therefore, the parents also)? Nothing more
then climbing about an engine cab, holding a hose and spraying water, laying
down on the cot in back of the ambulance, going up and down in the snorkel
basket, and, last, but not least by any means, getting to sit down in the
empty hose bed of Old Retired Engine 6 (a 1948 Mack), packing in as many kids
and adults as possible, and riding around the block with lights and
sirens..........I have to tell you, hanging off the back to make sure no one
falls off and kills themselves is a treat for even a jaded cynical old crank
like myself. The kids are awed, it is a chance of a lifetime (and how much
rarer would be the chance to sit inside a tank?), the parents ask a thousand
questions, and I felt a bit like a goddess knowing the answers, and being the
one privliged enough to still ride the back rail. (outside riders are now
illegal on Fire apparatus....another dumb law propagated in the name of
safety and sanity) All of you guys know everything there is to know about
your vehicles, every one of you is more then equipped to tell the story, to
impress others not only with an already impressive vehicle, but with the
depth and breadth of what you know about them. The people you may impress
with crunchs and crashes are not always the ones you need to be impressing.
The people who ask quiet questions, who look, and touch, and observe, they
are impressed by knowledge. Something all of you have in abundance.
Without asking your permission, I'll tell you one of the few things I've
learned in life..........if you want to impress adults, impress their
kids.........works every time......and for every kid you have impressed with
kindness, knowledge, history, intelligence, or just plain fun, you have made
a life-time convert of..........and they are the ones who will grow up to be
the next crop of BATF agents, the next judge, the next laywer, the next one
who makes MVs a hobby and/or a passion instead of a fear and a fright. Give
them a dream, and you take away a nightmare.
Try your local schools..........they all teach history classes still (I
think), what is more a part of history them a retired Military Vehicle?
Offer a tour, offer a short class on your vehicle, make up a story if you
dont have one handy...........let them touch, let them see, let them feel,
make them understand what you have, what history has given us, what part your
vehicle played then and still plays now in our ever constant struggle for
freedoms of all sort.........
Wouldnt hurt to let them know there is a possibilty of losing what you are
introducing them to, either............Even senators, BATF agents, local
cops, and lawmakers have kids, you know. And you never know who's kid you
are impressing.............or what kind of assistance their parents can
someday be to you.
Laura
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Feb 21 2000 - 18:15:03 PST