Re: [Harp-L] Undiscovered Talent Grant

[David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bob Cohen wrote: "Well folks. SPAH has expressed no interest in my offer to create an entity to fully fund bringing undiscovered talents to the convention and introduce them to the SPAH community and in so doing net increased membership and exposure for the organization. 
It's too bad because I got fair bit of positive feedback off-list. So that means the project is dead. Sorry"



Sometimes, a man withdrawn to self-prescribed obscurity has to re-emerge, stand up, thrust his head out and say "this is bull...." 
 I mean that in the most caring, nurturing, encouraging way possible.  
This in no way means the project is dead. Even if you don't want to do be any more involved, that doesn't mean the project is dead. The only way this project is dead is if nobody steps up to the plate. That could be you, Bob, or it could be somebody else. 
I believe, that for every situation in life, there is an applicable Theodore Roosevelt quote. 
This one applies now:
"Get action. Seize the moment. Man was never intended to become an oyster." 

So what if SPAH isn't interested in it? To hell with that. SPAH is nothing but people and I believe that SPAH isn't showing interest because they don't want to take a leadership role in it. You are people, too. There is no law that says "Only SPAH can create harmonica-related entities" and I'm sure SPAH would agree with me on that. Just create the entity. Start a kickstarter campaign. If you believe in something, to hell with the blockers, naysayers, spoilers, cowans and eavesdroppers. What are they going to say if you give send a kid there? "Kid, take a hike!" No. They're not going to turn him/her away. Nay, they will be happy and they will certainly be happy that somebody besides them organized something for a change. 

If you believe in it, do it. What's the worst that can happen, you fail? You fail and no kids get to go to SPAH on scholarship? EXACTLY what is happening now?
Applicable T.R. quote: "Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat" (double negative T.R.'s)

I've gone years without ever mentioning this - I don't think I've mentioned it even to my closest friends - so I hope nobody thinks I'm blowing my own horn, even though I consider it the most important thing I ever did - and I dare say was a bigger project than this.  I just thought Bob or anybody willing to step up to the plate might be inspired by this story to see the football pop out of SPAH's hands, pick it up and run for the goal line. That is the only reason I mention it now. You find something you really believe in, pour yourself into it and you can make it happen. But I didn't do it alone. Not by a long shot. 

There was a group of military personnel in Iraq right after the invasion in 2003. They started this flyfishing school to teach soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines to flyfish, which is a very relaxing endeavor. It was not supported by the government in any way, so they had to scrape up what they could. They called it the Baghdad School of Flyfishing. They were flyfishing for various ornamental fish that Sadaam Hussein had stocked in his big, fancy palace ponds. They had some rods sent from the states. What they didn't have was flies. Fishing flies are expensive. They are these little tiny things, but if you buy them, they are very costly. Even at Wal Mart, they might cost a dollar each for mass-tied flies made in China. But I thought they should have all the flies they could use. Moreover, the finest flies money could buy. I really believed this. But they didn't. Folks can laugh, that's ok, but I was very moved by the fact they were going through all
 they were going through - they often had their lessons interupted by mortar fire and had hardly any fishing flies. I was moved in the same way I think you are moved by this, Bob. Suddenly, it became the most important thing in the world for me. 

I thought they should have the best flies - made in America - of the highest quality. The quality of fishing flies that you get when go to a fly shop and pay $3 a fly or more for. I figured they would need about a hundred flies a month - $300 worth of fishing flies. 
First question, how do you get $300 worth of fishing flies every month? Ask some companies (substitute SPAH here for the scholarship parallel) to donate flies? I never even tried that. At first, I sat down at the bench and started tying. I sent them some grasshoppers, ants and some other things. I even sent a couple of bread-crumb flies, which are tied to represent bread crumbs for fish that are used to people feeding them bread crumbs - anything I could tie well. Mostly, I tied my signature fly - The Payne Killer - which I believe no fish - regardless of race, creed, politics or religion - can refuse. 

It soon became obvious that no one man could tie all these flies. So, I first called upon my friends and got some more.
   I have an outdoors newspaper column and I called upon my readers to tie flies. I called it "Operation: Iraqi Freedom Flies." It served one purpose only, to supply these wonderful people with fishing flies. It snowballed. Soon, we were sending flies like crazy. I was sending like 300 flies at a time and these were beautiful flies, tied by expert hands that were far more talented than mine. The best fly tyers in West Virginia, Ohio and other states were sending flies to me send to Iraq. They were tying their absolute best stuff for these guys in Iraq. They were spending like three times more time on these flies than ones they'd tie for themselves. 
  Here's some pics of some of the flies. Check out the spider flies. When I brought them home and set them down, my wife wanted me to kill them. They are that realistic. 
http://www.baghdadfishing.com/20061109%20Update.htm


We were sending so many fishing flies that they had more than they could use. They went from having like zero flies to having so many that they could award students, upon completion of the course, a full set of flies. I cannot describe how moved I was by that.
The tears still come when I look at the pictures of the fish they caught using Operation: Iraqi Freedom Flies:
http://www.baghdadfishing.com/Iraq%20Fish%20Pictures.htm I also like the fact that a bird caught a fish - and they posted a picture of the bird with its fish on the page. 


Eventually, the school died. The problem was, the school leaders would get rotated out and then they'd have to find somebody new to do it.  Eventually, the contacts in Iraq lost contact with their replacements, thus I lost contact with the school, but I think we had three years of sending them flies. I can't remember the exact number, but I believe we sent more than 3,000 fishing flies to Iraq. It was several thousand dollars worth of flies - a great many of these flies would sell for $5 or so at a fly shop. I personally tied a only small percentage of these flies, probably less than a hundred of them - mostly Payne Killers - were tied by me. 
There was one man, a 92-year-old West Virginia native living in Tennessee, Williard McCroskey who tied more than any. He tied 500 of them. It was almost like it gave him a reason for living. 
Here is his story:
http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/topic/4127-more-on-the-baghdad-school-of-fly-fishing/


It was something I believed in, but was a lot of hard work to make it happen. I didn't and I couldn't have done it alone. But I found that many people were motivated by the same things I was. They wanted to help. All I did was give them somewhere to focus that help. All they needed was for somebody to say "Let's Roll. Let's do this. Let's make this happen." 
So what if SPAH has declined the role of saying "Let's roll?" If this is something you really believe in, it's your job to say "Let's roll." 

Where you are now Bob, with your harmonica scholarship idea, is at the same point I was when I sat down at the vice and realized I could not make this happen on my own. You have a choice, either give up or make it happen. 
  If you believe in this, make it happen. Just make it happen. Failure means nothing changes. You lose nothing. Success means a great thing happens that is vital for the survival of SPAH and our instrument itself. If you fail, you will have the satisfaction of knowing you did your best. You won't have to kick yourself years from now wishing you had made a move. I am prouder of those flies than I am of either of my WV Press Association Awards. I want you to have a moment like when I look at the pictures of those brave people who sacrifices so much with their awesome fish and actually cry. It is the greatest, most humbling feeling ever. It is a great feeling to not have been an oyster, to not have lived in that depressing world of which Roosevelt spoke, that grey world of twilight, knowing neither victory or defeat. 

Now, let's roll.

David Payne

www.elkriverharmonicas.com


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