Remember, a lot of things are funny if they’re not happening to you.

Hope D. Wall School.

I grew up in this town, see, so this was a place you were threatened with or that you used Hope Wall to make fun of each other. I did it. I made short bus jokes and I called people some names I don’t want as a searchable term for this blog.

And it was funny. At the time.

It’s not any more. It’s fear we have now and, while mean things are funny, things that might happen to us are not. We have kids, now. We want for that generation an incredible life, an easier life than our own, a full and rich life with possibilities. We don’t want to think of the kids we have or might have as ever being made fun of for anything. You get old and they turn into people. People we might love.

Yeah, so it’s not funny anymore.

But it’s not sad, either. There’s a group of people who have found a calling making sure that special needs kids have some support and love. So, if it’s not funny and it’s not sad, what is it?

It’s beautiful.

We had the chance to play a benefit with Side of Beef and Captains of Industry and the Hix Bros All Star Band this last Sunday benefiting Hope D. Wall School. Ted Roman, from Side of Beef put the thing together and Ballydoyle hosted the fundraiser. Ted’s son Alex has special needs and Hope Wall has been there and been a god send to Alex and his family.

He did an amazing thing and gave back. He raised $2500 for a this school in tight economic times. I met some incredible people, from the teachers and administrators at the school to a few of the parents who were touched. I’ve rarely felt either as welcomed or as appreciated.

It was an incredible experience.

I’m tough, too. I don’t do charity, at least not large not for profits – I don’t think diseases get fixed and I don’t feel like paying a CEO. Yeah, but I live in this community and I know some of the folks this organization touches and I’m always ready to support this community and the people in it. Thank you to every one giving their lives and time for human beings who need love and a support network. Some folks who may not have the opportunities some of us have. Some folks who have a profound dignity and ethic to be: who are complete and insanely generous with their love whether they are laughed at or forgotten.

You see, you can laugh at a lot of mean shit, but it gets pretty hard to do that when you think about it and realize you’re laughing at people.

Thanks for the chance to do something right, Ted, and thanks to every one who showed up. Feel good about yourself.