2002-09-12 - 9:43 a.m.
Yesterday I participated in the United Way�s �Day of Caring�. This is an annual program where volunteers are requested from all over the city to �help out� in some fashion or another. My day of caring was spent helping refurbish a house for a 21-year-old single mother and her 2 children. I was part of a crew of about 105 that showed up to �help out�. Moments after I arrived I was given the choice of painting, or doing MAJOR land clearing. I opted for the landscaping work. Paint and I just don�t get along very well.
You never really realize how strong you are until you find yourself in a physical situation with other folks. I quickly realized that I was easily the strongest fellah at the site, but my endurance was mediocre at best. But did I let that stop me? Oh hell no. I pushed and pushed and pushed myself to make sure that I kept up. So what did I do? Well lots of grunt work. I pried large blocks/slabs of concrete out of the ground and carried them to the dumpster (we didn�t have a wheelbarrow yet) I raked, pruned, and pulled weeds till my hands no longer worked right. And then came the fun stuff. I headed up a stump busting team. Armed with a mattock, a 10lb sledge hammer, and 1 splitting wedge I began the arduous process of busting up stumps and removing them. My self and 2 other fellahs managed to remove 5 stumps that day. We also soon became the talk of the work crew. Especially me. Now I tell ya, that was a weird feeling. I am not used to getting that sort of attention. Within 5 minutes of starting on our first stump everyone at the site had started calling me �Blacksmith�. Funny thing was the only folks that I told about me being a blacksmith were the 2 fellahs who were helping me with the first stump. But soon I had folks showing up with bent and broken tools, asking if I could fix em. So I did the best I could with a splitting wedge driven in to the top of a stump and a 10lb sledge. If that wasn�t enough, I kept catching people staring a me as I would drive the wedge into the stumps, blowing out chunks of wood. Gotta tell ya�it made me very self-conscious. And then came the film crew and photographers. Good God�Well Jason, I learned yesterday that in front of a camera I am a man of few words. Reporter asks me��who are you, who do you work for, and why are you here�� My answer��I�m Jeremy, I work for the Norfolk Public Library, and�I am here�to help.� And then I went back to swinging my sledge�Meanwhile the reporter was standing there like she was waiting for me to say something more. But what more was there to say? I was there to help�nothing more. I guess they got the idea, cause the soon left me be and went to pester some more talkative women working near me. Well the upshot of all of this, By the time we were done, you would not have recognized the place. We had totally cleared the yard, pruned all the trees, picked up all the trash, and put in a handful of plantings around the house. It was a job well done, and I was happy to have gotten the chance to help. And my reward�I met a few folks who I am meeting for dinner tonight�and best of all�I hurt so bad I can barely move. But I tell ya�It was so worth it�
Today I learned that there is a critter called a blue ringed octopus. He is no bigger than a baseball, and is so poisonous that one nip from this critter, and without immediate medical attention�well your doomed.
So I am wondering�Why do I ask what yall have learned today? Do you really take a moment to reflect on that question when you read that sentence? If you said no, would I stop asking?�enh�no I doubt I would. So dear friends�As I do every other day, I ask once again�What have you learned today?
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