Year of Giving

Save the date!  I am still working hard to secure a space for the Year End Celebration for December 14th here in DC.  Still no definite venue, but I am working on it.  If anyone knows of a venue who will do a lot of this for free or a group, company, law firm, individual person, whoever, that might be interested in sponsoring the event, let me know.  There will be plenty of media there…could be a very interesting opportunity for the right company or group.

Jacob holding his "cowbell" sign next to his father. (photo: Reed)

Anyway, on to today’s recipient!  Today we’re going back a few weeks to the Rally to Restore Sanity that was held in Washington, DC on October 30^th.

My father had come to DC to attend the rally.  Dad and I took a bus from Dupont Circle down to Chinatown and walked down to the mall and picked up my friend Tricia.  We were supposed to meet up with lots of other friends and family there however it was a complete zoo and cell phones weren’t working.  There were hundreds of thousands of people, many toting signs, cramming onto the Mall.  I wish I could tell you what was said or what happened, but due to a lack of jumbo screens and speakers I saw and heard very little.  One of the best lines that I later heard that Stewart said referring to a lot of the political rhetoric is that, “If we amplify everything we hear nothing.”  I get it, but if you don’t amplify enough…the thousands of people who come to see you can’t hear you.

Another sign I liked (photo: Reed)

One of the things I did see was Jacob – a 16-year-old from North Carolina who came up the night before with his father.  I was scoping the crowd looking for people I knew when I spotted his sign, “THIS COUNTRY NEEDS MORE COWBELL.”  There were lots of funny, crazy signs being carried around…there were some that were very serious and even a few that were downright hurtful in my opinion.  But this one just made me laugh with its Saturday Night Live reference.  If you haven’t seen this skit featuring Will Farrell and Christopher Walken…stop whatever you are doing now and check this out!  Don’t worry your boss will think it’s funny too.

photo:Reed

Anyway, I made my way over to Jacob and gave him my $10.  He was cool with receiving it.  “I’m going to give it to the other person I saw carrying around a ‘NEED MORE COWBELL’ sign,” he told me explaining that he had seen a similar sign.  “If I can’t find them then I might give it a hobo.”  This sparked a great moment…his father’s face exploded into a smile saying something like, “Hobo?  Maybe a homeless person, but there are very few real hobos anymore!”  I’m hoping Jacob will drop us a note here and let us know what happened to the ten bucks.

Jacob goes to a special high school that has a five-year program that basically gives you the equivalent of an Associate’s Degree when you graduate. That sounds like a good program now, I’m not sure I would have liked the idea of a five-year high school back when I was in school.  

“I’m going to give it to the other person I saw carrying around a ‘NEED MORE COWBELL’ sign. If I can’t find them then I might give it a hobo.” - Jacob (photo: Reed)

When he’s not studying or playing XBOX 360, he’s learning to drive.  “You see this?” his father asks pointing at his hair, “it’s causing my hair to turn gray!”   

These two were a lot of fun.  They made my day since I didn’t get to see much of the rally.  Thanks guys.