A Nice, Easy Going Day For Once

Last Saturday turned out to be a pretty good day for me. First, a friend from another ward at church asked me if I wanted to help take the Boy Scouts to the Marshall University vs Tulsa University football game. Since I had lived in Huntington and volunteered at Marshall’s radio station (WMUL) I of course said yes. It turned out that the tickets were free for us and I only had to forego a little sleep because the game was at 11 AM. We ended up having more adults than scouts. I showed up wearing my Marshall t-shirt and my Tulsa hat but ended up keeping the shirt covered by my zip up hoodie due to (a) the extremely windy and cool conditions and (b) the fact that Marshall got the snot beat out of them. It was if they didn’t practice or even watch any game film. Still, it was the first time I’ve been to a football game in four or five years and it was nice to get out with friends.

We ended up leaving the game a little early, which normally I loathe to do, but it was clear that Marshall had no chance to come back and win and it was rather cool in the wind so I agreed. After I got home I took a short nap until my wife and son got home and they ended up falling asleep so I got on the computer with my headphones and watched the UFC preliminary fights on Facebook. It was the first time I have ever done this and it wasn’t a bad experience. During the breaks between fights I would do something else until the next fight started. Then it was time for the main event, the heavyweight title fight between the champion Cain Velasquez and the challenger Junior Dos Santos. This looked to be an exciting fight and was tabbed to be the only one shown on the inaugural UFC show live on Fox. In order to explain the sport to those who had never seen it before (this was the first time MMA was ever shown on free television in the U.S.) there was a lot of footage showing who the fighters are and where they came from. The diehard fans (like me) would of course preferred that they had shown more fights but hey, it was free so I won’t complain (too much).

Unfortunately I had run out of time. My brother Tommy and his son Chris came to pick me up and we went downtown to Joe Mammas Pizza. A band led by Tommy’s co-worker was playing and he wanted to go and show some support. Although the music style wasn’t what any of us would regularly listen to it was nice to go hang out, listen to live music, eat some pizza and soak up the atmosphere. As we get older things like this just don’t seem to happen enough which speaks loudly about how convoluted our lives have become. We spoke with Tommy’s co-worker between sets and stayed for a little while longer before calling it a night. I made it home while my wife and son were still awake and we spent some time together too. All in all it was a nice day. Not too hectic but not too slow paced either. I had no deadlines to meet or someplace that I had to speed to get to. It showed me how important it is to periodically get away from it all, relieve the stress and relax. Trust me, the way things have been going lately that is something that I sorely need. The trick now is to make it happen more frequently. By the way, Dos Santos beat Velasquez by technical knockout in one minute and four seconds. Just wished I could have stayed home a few minutes longer and seen it.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

For The Good Of All

Lately I have been doing a lot of thinking that was partly spurred on by my niece going to Africa on a mission. No, I’m not talking about a Blues Brothers kind of mission. She has a college scholarship through her church that requires her to go on a month long mission every summer. The first year she went to Honduras and last year I believe she went to Germany. This year she is in Zambia, Africa and is working at an orphanage in a small town. Her flight touched down in Johannesburg, South Africa the day after the World Cup final match and the next day she flew on a puddle hopper to Zambia and then took a bus to the town that she will be staying in and now she is more than halfway through her time there. Personally I am quite proud of her for going all over the world to help out in whatever small way she can. She could have easily bowed out and declined the scholarship once she found out the conditions but instead she embraced the challenge of experiencing different cultures and people which a lot of young people will no longer attempt to do these days.

As I thought about that I also thought about a young employee at my job that recently graduated from Tulsa University and has decided that before he settles down into his profession of choice he wants to go to South Korea for a year to teach English. After that initial year he may even go to Argentina for an additional year. His case isn’t necessarily as altruistic as my nieces is but still, the idea of doing something like this at such a young age intrigues me and has had me wondering if I could have done something like this back in the day. I mean, you get to really learn about a culture incredibly different than your own and not in the false touristy kind of way where you never really connect with people on an individual basis.

Sure, I’ve seen different countries and different cultures but that was mostly when I was in the Army and although the slogan always said it wasn’t just a job but an adventure it was usually the other way around. For some reason I feel that it’s not the same but I really have no realistic idea why. I mean, in Germany although I did go to some castles and such I also would go to restaurants, record stores and so forth and try to interact with people. When I went to Spain for a week I have to admit that it was a tourist place and there wasn’t much of an attempt to see the “real” Spain but at least I can say I went there. During the first Gulf War in Saudi Arabia I had a handful of experiences with refugees and workers from other countries (as well as a very brief meeting with 2 Iraqi prisoners of war at a field hospital) but I can’t say I got to know them at all. Then two years ago I was able to go with my wife and our son to her native country of Peru where I did get to meet and interact with people in a real life setting which was very cool.

Regardless of why or where I’ve gone I always attempt to understand that foreign countries are just different and that I can’t compare them to where I am from or what I am used to. I feel that you just have to accept them for the way they are and enjoy the experience. Otherwise, why go in the first place? It seems to me to be pretty silly to go to a foreign country and then only try to be around people from your country that speak your language. For instance, a few years back while mindlessly flipping through tv channels I came across one of those “Judge” shows on which an older couple was suing their travel agent because they didn’t have a good time on their trip to Mexico even though they ignored her advice and told her to book them at a specific resort. One of their prime complaints was that while there they came in contact with too many Mexicans………………… I mean, really? You don’t want to see or hear people from that country? That’s one of the great problems with people from my country. They want to go to foreign lands and see many wondrous and beautiful things but only if the people there can speak English to them and have things done in the (North) American way.

Ah well, since I’ve strayed from my original thoughts I guess it’s as good a time as any to end this meandering and go to bed for the night. Before I know it my son will be waking me up but at least I can go to bed dreaming that perhaps he can one day do good things and learn to accept people and cultures for what they are, not where they are.