{"id":1583,"date":"2013-03-14T17:12:32","date_gmt":"2013-03-15T00:12:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.mechadigital.net\/?p=1583"},"modified":"2021-08-26T20:37:58","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T20:37:58","slug":"the-people-in-our-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/the-people-in-our-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"#57 The People in Our Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

What if you were the only person in the world?\u00a0 What if you had all the cool airplanes and everything else you could possibly want, but still were the only person in the world?\u00a0 Some have surmised that insanity would set in.\u00a0 Others say it would be closely followed by suicide.<\/p>\n

Evidently, our existence is simply not worthwhile without those who share our world.\u00a0 \u201cWait a minute\u201d, you might say.\u00a0 \u201cA lot of those people are jerks!\u201d<\/p>\n

You\u2019d probably be right.\u00a0 I\u2019ve sure run into a bunch of those.\u00a0 \u00a0But have you ever really thought about the ones who are the opposite, those who richen our existence?\u00a0 A friend of mine once received a very touching message from a friend of his.\u00a0 The friend simply told him how much their friendship meant to him.\u00a0 It occurred to me that the message was rare and perhaps it shouldn\u2019t be.<\/p>\n

Have you ever thought about all the nice things you hear about someone at their funeral?\u00a0 It\u2019s very likely that the object of those compliments never heard them while he was alive.\u00a0 That kinda sucks!\u00a0 Maybe we all ought to go out of our way to tell those who mean a lot to us that they DO.<\/p>\n

\"Bert<\/a>
Bert Garrison during a recent Tailwheeler\u2019s Journal production.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Many of those who know me know how much I think of my colleague, Bert Garrison.\u00a0 Bert was the first person who bought a copy of \u201cDawn Flight\u201d when it was first offered on our webstore, \u201cThe Tailwheeler\u2019s Mercantile\u201d (then, the Big Yellow Glider Webstore). \u00a0We struck up an email exchange during which I learned of his considerable accomplishments as a pilot, both as the last Air Force Pilot to fly the venerable SR71 Blackbird and as a captain for a U.S. Airline. In an email to me, Bert made one of the biggest mistakes of his life:\u00a0 He said that he was very interested in videography and photography and would be delighted to help me on a shoot if the opportunity ever arose.\u00a0 It arose on one of the first Tailwheeler\u2019s Journal shoots.\u00a0 Bert joined my old and dear friend, Jerry Groendyke and me as we traveled to Tennessee to do a feature on Mike Bowman\u2019s DeHavilland Chipmunk.\u00a0 As a result of that shoot we became colleagues and friends.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d say that ol\u2019 Bert definitely has some \u201cchops\u201d. \u00a0But, like many of us, he\u2019s an airplane nut and a fan of air shows and air show pilots.\u00a0 He\u2019s also possessed with a modesty that normally prevents him from speaking of his own accomplishments.\u00a0 One day, Bert was at an air show and noticed famed air show pilot Wayne Handley, who at the moment was not occupied but simply fiddling with his \u201cRaven\u201d aerobatic ship.\u00a0 Bert approached \u00a0Handley and asked if he could have the stunt pilot\u2019s autograph on his program.<\/p>\n

\"Wayne<\/a>
An autographed “Hero Card” from Wayne Handley showing his amazing turbine powered Raven.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wayne knew nothing about this friendly air show fan who\u2019d stepped up to meet him.\u00a0 Wayne shook Bert\u2019s hand and thanked him for the request.\u00a0 He said that he had some 8 X 10 pictures and that if Bert would like to walk with him to the terminal building where Wayne had to attend a briefing, he\u2019d get him one and autograph it.\u00a0 As the two pilots strolled across the ramp, Wayne Handley didn\u2019t talk about himself.\u00a0 He asked Bert about his own flying, learning a little about Bert\u2019s own background.\u00a0 It\u2019s information that normally has to be dragged out of Bert because he has a very well-developed sense of humility.\u00a0 During that relatively brief conversation, Bert learned that Wayne Handley was someone very worthy of his admiration.\u00a0 Wayne is a humble guy who is one of the most talented aviators you could be lucky enough to meet. He was also willing to go out of his way to give an unknown fan some special attention.\u00a0 It\u2019s obvious that Bert will always carry with him the warm regard for Wayne Handley that a lot more of us could only hope to earn from those who we run into.<\/p>\n

When my son, Hooper, was just a little guy, we had one of our many philosophical talks.\u00a0 I pointed out to him that he had a clean slate.\u00a0 I suggested that he think about it, maybe consider those of whom he thought well and decide just what kind of person he<\/b> wanted to be.\u00a0 Then, as his life developed, he could simply behave the way that person would behave.<\/p>\n

\"Lovell<\/a>
Jim Lovell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hooper always admired astronaut Jim Lovell, famed as the captain of Apollo 13.\u00a0 Early one morning, at the Ritz Carlton hotel on Amelia Island, the little boy had the opportunity to meet Captain Lovell.\u00a0 He learned that his hero was worth his admiration as Lovell went out of his way to spend a little time with a little kid who had a burning interest in space.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a lot easier for someone in their childhood to be the person they would like to be.\u00a0 As we get older, we pick up some baggage.\u00a0 Maybe we make some bad decisions.\u00a0 Maybe we do and say some things that we regret later.\u00a0 But at no time are we prevented from doing and saying the things that would be done and said by the person we would like to be.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m real proud of the people my kids, Janet and Hooper, are growing up to be.\u00a0 I can only hope that, as they mature, they will be people like those I admire.\u00a0 People like Bert Garrison, Wayne Handley and Jim Lovell as well as scads of people you\u2019ve probably never heard of.\u00a0 There are a lot of them in my life.\u00a0 I hope they know who they are.\u00a0 Maybe I\u2019ll make a point to tell every one of them from time to time.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s never too late.<\/p>\n

Happy (and humble) Swooping!<\/p>\n

Brian<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What if you were the only person in the world?\u00a0 What if you had all the cool airplanes and everything else you could possibly want, but still were the only person in the world?\u00a0 Some have surmised that insanity would set in.\u00a0 Others say it would be closely followed by suicide. Evidently, our existence is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1583"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}