We are sitting in a British Airways
Boeing 747, which, I believe, is the largest plane I have ever flown in. I just watched the movie “Blood
Diamond” (on my own personal entertainment system in the headrest in front
of me), and am now listening to Norah Jones’s (‘s’s’s) album “Not Too
Late”. As I watched this movie, I
got really excited about going to Mozambique.
Kind of reminds me of the “Invisible Children” movie, with the
child soldiers. At the end of
“Blood Diamond” (with Leonardo DiCaprio, who surprisingly to me,
played a pretty good soldier), it said that there are still over 200,000 child
soldiers still in Africa.
If anyone reading this has not seen
these movies, I really suggest it, then you can understand why I am so excited
(by excited, I mean crapping bricks, tengo poco miedo) about this. Check out the link on this blog to the
“Invisible Children” for more information.
I was asked to contribute to the
website my brother-in-law, Bernie Lord, is setting up. Bernie is a guy that I totally love and
respect, someone that I like to spend time with, even without it being
mandatory family time. I think that is a
good thing. Bernie has many skills and
this website will have tech information, Bernie’s opinions, and beer
reviews. Guess what I have been asked to
contribute to? Hint, not on
computers. Check out his site at
www.berntrips.com.
I was trying to post my first blogs
to his site, when this big, strong guy started speaking to me. After often weighing almost double that of
most of the men I have been interacting with (think Quechua), and a million
limp handshakes, to have my hand in his vice like grip was strangely
comforting. I guess this has to do with
the thought that masculinity begets masculinity, and immediately interacting
with this man upped my strength.
This man’s name is Tau, and the glow
at the end of his cigarette intensified as he took a long drag. He said “yeah, I’m a christian too, but
you guys are nuts. You are totally
unprepared for what you are heading into.
Do you have any idea that you are heading into a war zone?”
I said “you are correct, I am
totally unprepared and ignorant, but I am not turning around.”
He seemed very concerned, especially
that I would be taking my wife there. I
said “Now I am concerned”. I
took a gulp of beer and passed him the bottle of ‘Isenbeck’. Again, he let me know he is a christian,
Jesus and all that stuff, and again he reminded me that he is a captain in the
pecial Forces of South Africa, and that he fought in these areas and never
wants to go back. In fact, I get the
feel he is on the run from something that happened as the result of finding his
wife in bed with his best friend. I
said, “yeah, if I found my wife in bed with my best friend, I would
probably have to be on the run also”.
He said that because he is a
christian, she is still alive, he still loves her….then he said,
“please, I beg of you, buy a gun.
Grow a beard and buy a gun”.
That a beard earns you respect and the gun buys you some comfort. I just shaved my beard, because I love my
wife, but maybe I will be growing it back.
As we closed the conversation, he
reminded me to buy a gun. He told me
where to get them and how much they cost.
That I can buy an AK-47 for less than twenty american dollars. A pistol will cost about five. He said I am better off with the pistol (I
kind of think I would be a like a missionary Leonardo DiCaprio), because
holding the assault rifle makes me a target.
I started laughing, because the only
pistol I have ever shot was a bb gun, which got me in trouble at Liberty
University, and arrested in Keene NH.
Someone thought it was a real gun we were shooting as we drove the back
roads of New Hampshire. I have only shot
a black powder muzzle loader, which we used to cut down a tree in Maine, and
was in the gun club when I was a teenager.
We shot .22’s at targets, and my shooting really improved when I found
out that I am left eye dominant.
So, I have no idea if a pistol would
even help out of a jam, but I guess I could do some target practice on
camels. (do they have camels in
Mozambique?)
