[qrp-canada] FW: Good Story

[rattray]

I can remember two particularly exhilarating times in my life when the world
suddenly handed me a gift that made me feel wonderful. One was when I was 7
years old. It was 1945. America and our allies had beaten the German and
Japanese war machines. Moreover, we had the atomic bomb; it was said no one
else in the world possessed the technology to do that. We needed fear no one
ever again. The second exhilarating time was the collapse of the Soviet
Union which permitted, at long last, the end of the terrible, expensive and
destructive "cold war".

Both periods of euphoria were short-lived. Soon the Russians had "the bomb"
in the 1950's. Still we demanded our feeling of good will, even if we had to
kid ourselves that we could jump into a bomb shelter or duck and cover if
the "bad people" attacked. More recently, the idea that the Soviet Union was
responsible for our ills crumbled as we discovered the chaos and threats
that have continued and confounded our desire to live in peace since the end
of the cold war.

In both cases there was a lesson should we want to learn it. In both cases,
as the cartoon character Pogo once observed, "We has seen the enemy and he
is us!" In both cases peace was at hand if we wanted to build bridges to
other peoples around the world instead of hiding behind the walls of our
bomb shelters or under the flimsy pages of the morning edition.

We Hams know about that. Throughout the cold war, throughout the dark hours
of the Cuban Missile Crisis and a hundred other times we stood on the brink
of nuclear annihilation, many of us exchanged whispers of signal reports on
the short waves with our counterparts behind the Iron Curtain and in other
countries our government told us to fear. It might only be a name and RST,
but it was touching another human being. A human being as confounded and
confused by a world gone mad as we were.

Today it continues. We Hams have that gift to offer others as they are able
to reach across borders and cultural boundaries to speak to their fellow
humans. We have a long history of doing that, of recognizing that the poor
bloke at the other end of a QSO has many of the same desires, fears and
problems we do.

I hope we Hams always continue to show the way toward international
cooperation and mutual respect. Our governments may not understand the
principles of human interaction, but we individuals can. I count myself
lucky to have been able to make friends across those boundaries, both on the
air and on the internet.

I will continue to sign my call proudly, not for the nation it identifies
nor for any technical achievement it suggests, but for the role I, and my
fellow Radio Amateurs the world over, have played in reaching fellow human
beings across international and inter-cultural boundaries.

And, yes, sometimes the greatest cultural gap we encounter is between those
of us who wander the HF bands and the guys who carry half a dozen hand-helds
and only chatter on the local FM repeater. Isn't it so often true that the
biggest challenges in the world are those closest to home?

Let the good times roll.

Ron AC7AC



************ The Glowbugs E-mail List Website is: ***************
*********** http://www.mines.uidaho.edu/~glowbugs/ **************
*** Send subscribe and unsubscribe requests to this address: ****
************** majordomo at piobaire.mines.uidaho.edu **************

-- 
I am using the free version of SPAMfighter for private users. It has removed
9779 spam emails to date. Paying users do not have this message in their
emails. Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len