Extended learning opportunity


In April I worked for the Santa Barbara historical arms gun show for three days. Every year in February the Historical arms committee pitches in money to rent out fairgrounds in Santa Barbra for the show. It was an experience like no other. Me and my two cousins worked vigorously for hours setting up tables, cleaning the showground, and helping vendors get to their tables. I had so much fun talking to all of the vendors and listening to the stories they had to tell. Many of them were war veterans, starting from WWII, Vietnam, the Korean war, and Iraq. They would tell me their life stories starting from their childhood all the way to the present. I really enjoyed listening to what they had to say and I also think that they where glad that the had someone to tell their stories to. Even though these men and women were much older than me most likely twice or three times my age,I really enjoyed their company.

Most people don't realize what the elderly has to offer. They have much more knowledge of the world than we do because they have been around much longer than us, and I believe that we all should sit down and listen to what they have to say. When I wasn't cavorting with the vendors I was either in the front working the cash register, or walking around making sure that there wasn't any illegal activity going on. For the most part it was fun but this show lasted three days and of course it had its ups and downs. For the most part there wasn't anything that exiting going on but I did have to kick out a small older man for trying to sneak into the gun show. He gave me a bunch of attitude and tried to sneak in again after I kicked him out. Once the show was over me and the working crew cleaned up all of the tables and trash. Since many of the venders where in their eighties they paid me to help them load up their cars, and I wasn't going to turn down some easy money. It was a long weekend but I still made four hundred and sixty five dollars, good money for hard work.

This show ended up being a great experience for me, I learned a lot about the history and the evolution of the firearm, but I also learned a lot about my self. I took this job not really knowing what I was going to get out of it. I thought this to be no other than just another job and nothing more. Ironically this ended up being the total opposite, because I actually learned allot about myself and made great friendships. I learned that I have an old soul, meaning that I have an interest in the past and stories from the elderly. To be specific I made a great friend named Bill Wallthrip. He was a marine, the toughest of the though and he made sure I knew it as well. He told me a little about his time in Korea but what he mostly liked to talk about was his old ranch house and the great times he used to have with his family. He described it in a way that I could almost visualize it.

It made me think about the world and how it has changed. Me and Bill talked for hours, he told me about his childhood and how he transitioned from being a marine into being a park ranger. He asked me what I wanted to and what I wanted to be and I couldn't give him a straight answer, because I really didn't know what I wanted to do. He told me that it was ok that I didn't know what I wanted to because I had a long life ahead of me, but he told me one thing that I believe that will stick with me forever. He told me that a man who loves his job will never work a day in his life. I really took this to heart and I will make it my goal to find a job that I truly love. I think that this is very important to everyone because no one wants to live an unhappy life. For example in the novel The Stranger Mersault the main character of the story lowers his standards of living so low so that he couldn't ever possibly be unhappy with his apartment, job, or himself. In collusion working at this gun show has taught me more about life than i could ever learn for school, and I look forward to working at it next April.