© 2015 Alan John Mayer, edit 8/24/2018
Mirror Image Edutainment
When I was five, the kingdom of Lybia gained its independence, and all foreigners were told to leave the country. That included my mother’s family, her husband, my father, who was a Marshall Plan Education Adviser in Newfoundland, Alaska, North Africa, and Europe.
In 1960, Uncle Sam moved us from Lybia to Nuremberg, Germany, where we lived in close proximity to Garmisch Patenkirchen, Innsbruck, and the Zugspitze, highest mountain of the European Alps. Mummy decided we would all take up skiing, and apparently the price of a ski ticket was less than the cost of a babysitter, so I was put on skis, and enrolled in a lesson.
Dad was a real trooper. At sixty-six, he took up the sport, and kept it up until “one last run” at seventy-five turned into a hip injury, and he set his skis aside. The ski jacket and cap came in handy later, when he started shoveling snow off Aurora Colorado walks. After my experience with ‘Dad’s Weights and Skates’, (see post) I was glad Mummy hadn’t put him in charge of equipment. He might have strapped me onto two boards, secured them with bunjie cords and my Aunt Kaye’s gardening wire, and sent me flying.
As it was, I ditched the class, and flew down the mountain anyway, starting on the bunny hill. I hopped onto the chair lift, got off midway, and went flying down the mountain with my poles extended before me crying “Beep! Beep!” I became infamous on the slopes. People got out of my way. Of course, the inevitable did happen. I ran into and through a class and mowed a few of them down. I wonder now if it was the class I was enrolled in, or if this was even the same day.
All in fun. I did eventually improve. I did a flip on a jump one day, and never again. It dawned on me instantly what a dangerous move that is. Besides, it scared the shit out of me. I did not know the jump was there, or I would never have had the guts.
And so it was.
There is one life.
This life is God.
This life is perfect.
This life is my life now.
I accept.
I give thanks. I am grateful.
I ask that our schools, our teachers, our administrators, our children be blessed. School is no place for weapons.
Amen.
AmerIcanValuesRestored 