This is Part Three of a series. Did you miss Parts One and Two, before you skittering around these here parts?
My mother lives in Oklahoma, and I was on the phone with her the next week after Liberty Forum, telling her about how excited I had been to experience all of this, and there were quite a number of thintgs that struck me at Liberty Forum, and multiple people I connected with and am continuing to explore new dialogs and relationsihps, but there was one that I thought my mother in particualr would like.
One of the speakers did his opening talk on what he called "Proactive Apathy," which resonated with me, since I've had this idea and domain name (and gamer tag) called "Earnest Apathy" for ages. I always liked the inherent contradiction in the name and the underlying ideas that it represents, and here's this gup going in a related direction, talking about spheres of influence versus spheres of control, and it was truly inspiring to me. It's one big reason I'm doing this right now.
The next day, the same guy does a talk on "aquaponics," growing food in a continually-cycled water system using—as part of that system—fish. Well, my mother is a fiercely independent woman, and herbalist, and an ethusiastic lover of fish and aquariums. I could not wait to tell her about this guy and his fish food.
"Mom, I went to this forum, I got to dress up in a suit"—I do like getting cleaned up, and c'mon, if you can't get excited about things to tell your mom, anymore, then maybe you're getting too full of yourself. "And Mom, there was this guy who does a podcast talking about 'aquaponics' where you grow food in water, and there's fish—"
"What's the name of his podcast?" she asked me. So I tell her, "Oh, it's called The Survival Podcast, and he talks about growing food, and livestock, and guns, and—"
"You mean Jack Spirko?"
...
Stunned for a second, I said, "Well. Yeah. That's the guy."
"Oh!" she said, "I've been listening to him for years! And you actually got to meet him?"
See what Mom did there, by the way? Here, I was all excited about getting to share "new" information with her—"new" information she'd already heard, watched YouTube videos on, drawn up plans for—and instead of taking the wind out of my sails, she effortlessly and honestly turned it right back into a cause for excitement, because I got to meet Jack Spirko and shake his hand.
It turns out I have plenty to say, and many more people to thank for inspiring me, but this time, I'm starting out with my good friend who invited me to volunteer, Mr. Jack Spirko,—who did not in any way ask me to endorse him—which I do, by the way. (To be honest, I doubt Jack even remembers me, I was just some face in a suit.) But check out The Survival Podcast anyway. And of course, Mom: Thanks, Mom!