Pappa Hardy's Musings on Life.

Well, serving in Public Office is an interesting experience. It takes a mind shift away from what you personally want to see done, to making sure that you are working for the public good of everyone that you represent. This makes the choices difficult because sometimes there are lots of gray areas and no clear cut directions that should be taken. For instance, if you approve a certain type of development for an area, how is that going to impact the city and it’s citizens in 10-15 years, not just tomorrow.

Everyone of course has ideas about the right way to do things as well, and you quickly learn that you can’t always vote the way someone else suggests that you vote. It takes separating your desire to be liked from the public good. Everyone at some time or the other should have this opportunity.

I have never really been a fan of black Friday. For some reason I just don’t get a thrill of getting in the hunt for a bargain at 3am in the morning. I know that some people love that, but I am not one of them. I would much rather sleep in until my normal 5am get up time.

Unfortunately, I am the type of Christmas shopper that ends up not getting Christmas done until Christmas Eve. Somewhere, there must be a happy medium. I am unfortunately not it.

Whenever I have gone cruising now, I feel the strong call of the seaman. I think I could have taken to a life of travel and work upon ocean going vessels. One thing that I have decided is that there is so much that I want to see around these big oceans that mark our planet, and so little time to go and do it. I am in the later parts of my life now and feel that I have run out of time to do some of the exploring and things that I really wanted to do. I wanted to be able to travel and explorer, see new things, do new things, and not be trapped in a job that has robbed me of new things. Well, I have only myself to blame. I don’t feel bad about the people that I have come to know and the family that I have, I just wish I had followed my heart more.

Yesterday Bonnie and I had an opportunity to attend the Davis High School Class of 1969 40th Anniversary Reunion. It was a lot of fun, and also very revealing.

It was a lot of fun to be able to visit with a lot of friends. The funny thing is, I don’t remember them growing so old. All of these people were walking around with wrinkles on their faces, grey hair, and some of them either looked so good or so old that you couldn’t recognize them. It was amazing.

We had a chance to hear from a member of our class who is now the congressman from the 1st Congressional District in the state of Utah. We heard things about members of our class, their accomplishments, and also had a chance to hear about members of our class who valiantly have or still served their country in wars and lands abroad. We also learned of those members of our class that are no longer with us because they have left this mortal vale of tears and have moved on to a higher plan of existence.

There were some comic things too. After the program was finished up, they had a rock group called the Barracudas’ (which consisted of old DHS Graduates) play some rock music for us. At the beginning of their performance, they said that if anyone complained that it was too loud, they would be showing their age. They proceeded to do a great job of performing some of the great hits of the 60’s and the 70’s. However, it was loud, and it was comic to see all of these old people, who obviously are part deaf (me included) straining to hear each other talk while the music was being played. Everyone’s ears were placed next to the other’s mouth so we could communicate. It was obvious we were all too old. It was a great event and a defining moment.

We are at the time of year where the night doesn’t last very long. Soon, we will be at the longest day of the year and the shortest night of the year. Then, the inevitable process of shorter days and longer nights will begin to occur. I hate that change. I love the early summer, and love to see the sun. I am in mourning already knowing that this month will bring that change. When I was up at 5am this morning, I was already seeing traces of the sun coming up. I at least have 3 weeks or so of longer days to go.

We live in a great country. We live in a country where people are supposed to be judged by their peers if they have broken the law and if they have transgressed in some way. However, I fear that this country of ours is moving away from that rule of law. We have begun to make it a place where fairness only applies if you are politically correct. If you aren’t a liberal, and part of the ones that are enlightened, then the rule of the popular is more important and is therefore how you are judged. This country has moved away from truth and fairness, and instead has been moved to what is politically correct.

One thing I will never forget, even though it happened almost 30 years ago, is a situation where a good time turned bad. I was attending a wood badge training in Michigan and it was a night of camp fire programs (this is actually when I would camp out in a tent under the stars). I was a participant in the course, and our patrol had already done our skit. It was the turn of the staff to do their skit. One of the gentlemen in the skit was performing his part when he collapsed. For a minute, all of us just stood there, because it appeared that his collapse was part of the skit. Soon, from the faces of the other staff members, it was apparent something not good was happening. People rushed over to the scouters aid and began to administer CPR. Not long after that, we were all dismissed to go back to our camp sites, and the program suffered an abrupt end. Even worse was the fact that the next morning we found out that the man, after having been rushed to a hospital nearby, had died later that night as the result of the massive heart attack he had suffered. It was a sad time for everyone. I never take anything like that for granted anymore.

1-I actually spent a night in a county jail at age 18 though I never committed any crime or was ever accused or convicted of a crime.
2-I once ran for city council and placed 7 out of 8, which eliminated me from the General Election. A similar incident occurred in Junior High School, when I placed 5th out of 5 in the election for Class President and didn’t advance to the primary election. Despite that, I love politics.
3-I once accidentally dropped a tape recorder out of a train door while the train was moving 20 miles an hour, and almost jumped out of the train door into a rice paddy to retrieve it.
4-I used to love to toss baseballs up into the dark air at night, guessing when and where I would see them come down out of the dark. I lost one of my front teeth because of that. Guess what I don’t do for fun anymore.
5-I once was a baseball star in little league baseball. I pitched the game that won the city championship, which was the exact fulfillment almost play by play of a dream I had experienced more than a year earlier.
6-I listened on a radio in a tent, during the 9th National Boy Scout Jamboree, when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. I have never looked at the moon the same again.
7-I watched the Space Shuttle Challenger explode live on network TV in 1987. Despite that trauma, had they asked for volunteers to ride into orbit the next day on the shuttle I would have done it.
8-I always wanted to fly jet fighters and dreamed about being an astronaut, quitting that dream only after I found out that I had to have uncorrected vision in order to apply.
9-I was a Mathematics Sterling Scholar in High School. I didn’t last more than a year in college as a math major and use no advanced math in my current job.
10-In college, I was on campus on the day four students were shot and killed at Kent State University and witnessed the burning down of several campus buildings at the University of Utah as the result of that event. On that day, I was proud to be an American.
11-I have seen each one of my 5 children born into this world. It was the most incredible experience I have ever had. I consider each and every one of them to be more intelligent and accomplished than I am.
12-I value my testimony of Jesus Christ more than anything else in the world.
13-I lived one of my most important dreams when I visited Kennedy Space Center in 1999.
14-I am married to the World’s Greatest cook.
15-I always wanted to be a space explorer, yet ended up working as a commercial loan officer in a bank. Go figure.
16-It has always been my dream to be an explorer. I love to travel and see new places and experience new things.
17-I speak Mandarin Chinese but you wouldn’t know it now.
18-My grandmother was Miss Utah.
19-My dad was a High School Basketball Star.
20-I have sat in the “Big House” on many occasions and watched the University of Michigan play football.
21-I roomed with a currently serving Congressman during our first year of college.
22-I consider Taiwan to be my second home and the Ho Family of China as my “other” family.
23-My wife is my best friend.
24-I love to write. I have currently written over 30 volumes of diaries.
25-My grandfather lived to be a 103. I will be lucky to live until I am 70.
26-My father in law was one of the most Christian people I ever have known.
27-I love to take cruises. As Princess Cruise Lines say, I love to escape completely.
28-Since I grew up in the 60’s, my favorite Rock group has been the Beatles, followed by the Moody Blues. However, I also love Country Music, Classical, and much more new stuff.
29-One of my ambitions is to visit all the continents of the world, plus the Arctic North Pole.
30-I graduated from the best schools in the Universe, Davis High School, The University of Utah, and the University of Michigan.

I sat recently on a cruise ship up 15 floors from the surface of the ocean. It was a full glass window and gave me a terrific view of the ocean for as far as an eye can see. I was not afraid of the height. Likewise, I can sit in an airplane, look out the window, and think it is most marvelous thing that I have ever done. I can be at the top of Taipei 101 looking out the window, checking out the horizon for as far as the eye can see, and not be afraid.

Take away the glass, take away the wall, and then I am a bowl of jelly. I feel temptations to jump, I feel fear that I will fall, and things are not good for me. It is amazing that a wall or obstacle between me and that long way down can be such a comfort.

I am an Explorer by Nature. I watched tonight the Motor City program that had a lot of young dancers, all in their 20’s and 30’s just dancing their hearts out. Me, I am pushing 60 and part of the geriatric set. There isn’t much that I can do anymore like that, and moreover, my interests have narrowed so that I am really not into that. However, one thing I really enjoy is having new experiences and seeing new places. That is probably why I like cruises.

I am to the point in my life where memories are more important than things I might by, or physical activities that I might do. I like to explorer a place, see new places on the face of the earth. I love to see what is around the next corner. I am an explorer by nature and I get frustrated when I go places and don’t get to explorer. There will not be too many more opportunities like that in my life. I love to explorer things. I want to see places, do things, and have experiences that are within my reach.