6/3/2008
taken : 6/3/2008
...
The Human ConditionAt the end of my Maymester class I met a young woman who is in charge of the art program at Camp Wapiyapi. Camp Wapiyapi is a summer camp held east of Longs Peak. The camp is set up for kids with cancer. The camp consists of some 75% kids with cancer and the remaining 25% kids who have recovered from cancer. There are multiple sessions with each session lasting a week long. Each day is pretty much an open forum with activities throughout the day for the kids.
This young woman asked if I might be able to set aside some of my time to come up and take photographs of the camp. She explained to me that last year the camp hired professionals (which I am not) to document.
Apparently they showed up once with trucks of equipment, then flaked out the next day...then were never heard from again. No one ever saw the pictures.
...
So I drove my ass up there today to do this.
The morning started off with hot air balloon rides...
...well actually the hot air balloon was tethered by about 5 ropes and only went perhaps 30-40 feet in the air...but people still liked it.
I declined a ride.
...
I wandered around here and there meeting people and taking pictures of various activities...climbing walls...ropes courses...zip lines...all the great things of a summer camp (I think...I was never a summer camp kid)
I found out that there was a fly tying class going on in a building near by so I rushed over there to see what was going on.
One of the counselors turned out to be a dude that lived next to me in the dorms. We were okay pals, but he was never around really...but awkwardly enough we didn't say a word to each other the whole day
anyways...
...
There were 4 old guys in this room sitting around tables with vices and all the fixin's for making flies for fishing. I sat in on a couple tables watching these retired men be very patient with these little kids as they taught them how to make a fly. They all reminded me of my father. Their instruction was precise and very well organized. I could tell that they did this regularly here at the camp...and although at times there were frustrations, they kept it together and were patient, attending to every child at their table, making sure everyone was all caught up before moving on.
...
After they made their flies it was time to fish. So I followed the group down to the pond where they stock rainbow trout. I chuckled when one of the old guys explained catch and release to the little kids.
"We don't want to disturb nature. Remember we are hear for the sport, so that is why we will put the fish back after we catch them."
...
Again with the patience of those guys. They stood there and tied every single fly to every kids rod as the little kids collected rocks and hurled them into the pond, certainly scaring away all the fish.
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Everything was tied up and ready to go. So the fishing commenced (after teaching everyone how to cast...the little kids didn't use fly rods...just regular rods).
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The kids spread out around the south shore with a few of them wandering a little farther than others.
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Not much was really happening after about 10 minutes. The kids seemed to be losing interest.
But from the other side of this little pond came some commotion.
Myself and some of the old dudes hurried over.
One of the little kids had something.
"Hook it! Hook it!" those guys yelled.
The kid reeled it in like his life depended on it.
One of the guys went into the water to get the fish.
"Alight! You
made that fly, and you caught a fish! Good Job! Way to go!"
All the old guys were standing there patting the little kid on the back. Congratulating him, telling him what a good job he had done.
I suddenly got the feeling that we all had the same understanding of the situation. The last 45 minutes had boiled down to that last minute...
...and nothing that
anyone in the situation had done within even the last week mattered. Nothing. None of it. Just right now, this kid and this fish.
That old guy slammed the fish in that little kid's hand and told him to hold it so they could take a picture.
And I swear to god...
...that fish could not have been more than 3 inches long...
...but when that guy pulled the fish out of the water that little kid exploded. His face lit up and he jumped up and down. He laughed and squealed as he watched that old guy struggle with the slippery fish in the water.
That little kid couldn't stop smiling with that fish in his hand. He could have been some poster advertisement for some new type of flavored toothpaste.
And with everyone around him...
...he was the warm little center of the solar system for that moment
and I abruptly turned my back
and started walking back along the shore
because I was just about to start to cry...
...
