Investment of Time

Please take a moment and reflect upon the good you may have done by investing yourself in the life of a child that may not have the comforts that most have in a family environment.  if you have ever taken a kid fishing or hunting or have devoted any of your time with any kid that is not part of your family, you might enjoy reflecting upon a neat story that unfolded a few days ago.

On a recent Saturday night (3/5/11) our Cherokee Chapter of the NWTF (National Wild Turkey Federation) held our annual fund raising banquet.  In order to do this we serve a meal, have a silent and live auction, along with several raffles & gun ticket sales to raise money for the NWTF and its conservation practices which are varied in nature.  To our surprise, in the midst of a long day of rain, thunder showers and more rain that continued throughout the evening non-stop, we had around 340 people show up for the banquet and auction in a covered pavilion at one of our county parks.

About two hours into the event, one of our long time members introduced me to someone that looked really familiar and immediately she started to share how our chapter's activities has had a tremendous impact in the lives of her boys.  She is a single mother of a teenage girl and two teenage boys that do not have the benefit of having their father as an active part in their lives and therefore does not have an ongoing positive male influence to impact their lives like many of us.  While this is tragic enough in itself, their situation has been compounded in the past due to the boys difficulties in learning and other factors that would inhibit normal growth patterns in the life of normal kids. Being around other kids in a common classroom setting and doing things that most of us do not have to think about on a daily basis were foreign to these boys due of their daily struggles.  All of a sudden, my mind started drifting back to a few summers ago...

Several years ago, in the spring of 2005, several members of our local NWTF chapter agreed to work together to begin an outreach opportunity (Wheelin' Sportsmen) to the disabled community by hosting a "catfish rodeo" later that summer in one of our community's lakes.  We believed that everyone, regardless of one's physiological capabilities, ought to have the opportunity and thrill that accompanies catching a fish.  Most of us have long forgotten the joy in something as simple as catching a fish...yet, some have never had that privilege and we wanted to make that happen for someone, we wanted to make a difference in someone's life.  We knew that it could, and would, be a special moment for someone...a magical moment that would become a fond memory.  Little did we know what was in store for those that would participate and for the sense of accomplishment that we would simultaneously feel when we saw the beaming smiles, joy and laughter on the faces of those that would be successful in catching their first fish.

 In order for these objectives to be successful, we sensed that we had to accomplish several things to make this a memorable day for those that would participate in the activities.  First, we raised money to purchase several hundred pounds of live catfish and then secured permission from the community's local government officials to host the event.  After this, we approached our state department of natural resources and requested that TWRA (Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency) personnel to install a long net from one shoreline across one side of the bank of the lake to the opposite shoreline to limit the area where the fish would be able to swim...this would increase the odds of the disabled bodied participants to be able to catch a fish.  After this, we were pleasantly surprised by the local law enforcement's eager willingness to patrol the area for several days and evenings prior to the event to make sure that normal able bodied people would not fish in this area that was being prepared for the disabled community.  Then a few individuals made the commitment to feed the fish for more than a few days prior to the event to insure their health and survivability.  We were also fortunate enough to have found several organizations that were willing to ask their members if they were interested in participating in such an event (you might realize that our government's health care laws prohibited us from directly asking people if they wanted to participate due to a perceived violation of HIPAA laws).  As time approached the dawn of that summer day, it was as if the universe had planned this event in its providential calendar.

One by one, we arrived on that humid summer morning with a mixture of fear and excitement as we awaited the arrival of people who were just like us with the exception of a variety of physical disabilities that had prevented many of them from fully enjoying the great outdoors.  Many would wonder if we would be able to communicate and gel with people that we knew nothing about and had nothing in common with except for our love for the outdoors and the possibility of catching a fish.  But then, what did we know anyway?

From the brief moment those baited hooks met the mist rising off the still water of that lake until the salty sweat poured off the brim of our caps from the heat of the day, every disabled bodied person would develop a new fishing buddy with whom they would start exchanging stories with as they began bonding together the ways friends sometimes do during those special memory times of life.  We used to call that a Kodak moment, but as life has emulated technology, the speed of the digital age has often prevented many of us from being able to enjoy these important slower times in life.  Although there was not a cloud in the sky, that morning was slowly becoming emotionally charged with an atmosphere of anticipation...then it happened...that magical moment that we had dreamed would happen.

We heard a squeal and then the words, "I think I've got a fish" from a lady that was unable to see with her eyes.  Other than her lack of eyesight, her personality was just as magnetic on that shoreline as it was in a local sporting goods department store where she had raised a few eyebrows the day before when she proclaimed that she was there to purchase a fishing pole.  Her fishing buddy held the rod for her as she began to slowly crank that reel, one strenuous revolution at a time, in what would be the first of three fish that she would land that morning.  Within moments, she had the catfish in her hands examining it's body so that she could see in her mind what it looked like to the rest of the world.  That magical moment tugged real hard at the hearts of a lot a "abled" bodied fishermen that had hardly considered life without the ability to see the beauty of creation.  It was though reality had suddenly shown everyone another part of the unfair complexity of life.  Moments later, another young lady started moving around like she had stepped upon a bed of ants.  She had hooked a fish and had that look of "what do I do now" on the laughing and glowing features of her face.  Her bubbling excitement was so mixed with fear that once she pulled the fish to shore, she threw the fishing rod down on the ground and started running because the fish was "ugly." It started bouncing around until it slipped back into the edge of the troubled waters and was almost lost.

With all the excitement taking place, I wandered down the embankment to spend a few minutes with a young solitary fisherman with a gaze strong enough to penetrate the depths of the water and will the largest of the catfish to swim over to his tempting bait and engulf it as though it was giant Slurpee on the hottest afternoon of its life.  His passionate eyes were fixated on the object of his affection, to the point, that he acted as though he was all alone in this world until my sneeze seemingly summoned his attention.  It was at that precise moment when an ensuing smile released itself across the young masculine features upon his face that spoke volumes regarding his appreciation for being able to participate with a group of men that were willing to give of themselves and their time so that others could fish.  Somehow, in another one of those magical moments, appreciation would be personified in a manner that would leave an indelible impression upon my heart.  This day was quickly becoming everything that we thought might happen and far more than hope had already given us...it had become a magical day of moments.

As my mind slowly returned to the rain soaked conservation and hunting heritage fund raising banquet, this same precious mother shared how her son had overcome numerous obstacles through sheer determination that was coupled with the personal encouragement from the men in our local organization.  The few hours that these men invested in his life over the past few years, along with the personal attention several other fathers had provided inspired him beyond what nearly everyone thought was impossible for his life.  He had never forsaken the encouragement that had been granted toward him to press on toward his goal of being a normal kid.  Consequently, personal encouragement had created another magical set of moments as this developing young man continues to transform himself into a normal kid that would learn how to shoot a gun and be involved in outdoor activities at his public school where he is an exceptional student athlete that is a member of the varsity football team, JROTC, and the high school shooting team where he has shot a perfect score on two separate occasions. Yes, the time invested by a few men in the life of a boy that was not their own has transformed encouragement into another magical moment whose yield is a young man that understands the great value of personal time invested in others.

                                                                                 by Michael Oppizzi