See, I’ve read or listened to those words and they still touch even my old battered soul. To hear things from your parents, to hear their lessons of life is one thing, but to hear a hero say it…well, that just makes ya open your eyes, ya know?

So here I was, hanging upside, blowin’ in the wind, trying to get the man’s attention. He wasn’t in any mood to talk though.

“You can *Keep A Knockin But You Cain’t Come In!” he shouted over the strong wind. The grin on his face was not natural, not born of laughter.

“Buddy,” I tried to yell loud enough he could hear, but so loud it would sound like I was angry. “Why are you doing this? Talk to me, we’re only here to help…”

*”You Keep It Up and You’ll Force Me To jump!” he cackled, I swear he cackled as he danced on the bridge beams.

“I want to tell you a story,” I desperately replied, trying to get his attention on me. If he would just stop doing the two step on those slippery metal beams…

“I learned something,” I continued, “From my parents and from others. You like baseball, or football?”

He looked at me, and gave a small nod. So I pressed on.

“Well, Life is kind of like a big game ya know? *You Know the Rules but it doesn’t mean you win everytime. But when you’re down in the standings, what do you do? You *Keep the faith, and the next game you *Kick it in gear friend, right? Just ’cause you lost a couple games, ya don’t give up hope of making the playoffs, do you?”

He had finally stopped his strange little dance, and looked at me with what might have been tears in his eyes. “If you give up hope, ya might as well *Kiss it goodbye.”

“And no athlete is gonna give up the faith they? How many times has the underdog come back to beat the favourite? But even they need some help sometimes. So how about it Bud, will you let us help you kick it back into gear?”

He didn’t answer, but he looked at me, sadness in his eyes. With a short nod, he moved over to where I was still hanging upside down.

“You know,” he said quietly as I tied him into the harness. “Ya look kinda silly all red faced, upside down and all. But, that *Kindness is a keeper, my new found friend. Hang on to it, for dear life will ya?”

“I will Bud,” I said into his ear as we rose up into the windy night sky. “So long as you hang on to me for dear life, I will.”

Sometimes I hated being the shortest, lightest guy on the squad. I was always the one to crawl in the hole or be hung upside down. But tonight, as the words of Lou Gehrig, “I’m the luckiest man..” and Dr. King, “I have a dream,” ran through my head. And all I could think of was, how so very right they had been. How glad I was that I had heroes to look up to. Lord knows, I was no hero, I was just doing my job, reaching out to help someone hurting. Without my heros, would I have the guts to even try?

I dunno for sure about that. But ya know, I guess all we can do is Keep The Faith in each other, and we should be fine.