I want to back track and talk about an interesting person I met. I was walking around the COPE center and learning about UXO's(Un-Exploded Ordinances) and what it is that COPE does. If you don't know you should look it up. It is a center that gives prosthetic legs and arms to victims of UXO's. While I was walking around I couldn't help but hear the beach boys being played from a computer. A western man was introducing a young Lao man to the Beach Boys. It was my song "California Girls." So I clearly had to go over and say hello. As I walked up I became aware that the Lao man did not have hands, and was blind. I introduced myself and hung out while they played music. Then I wandered off to give them time alone. Then I went back and talked to this man.
His name was Peter Kim, he is my brother's age. I felt like I had been kicked in the chest when I thought of that. What if something like this happened to my brother? What if I lived in a country where my brother wasn't safe walking around, what if he could come across unexploded bombs? How would that change how I live my life? Peter seemed pretty optimistic about his life. He was a break dancer. He showed me a clip, and then teased me that I didn't believe him. Which I totally did. Now as I sit here remembering him, I am sad that I copied his e-mail down incorrectly. I wish I could wish him happy birthday. If by some reason he managed to find this, Happy Late Birthday man! You changed my life!
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