Camp Fire Stories

The setting of a camp fire is perfect for story telling, especially stories that need to be told to understand the times we are living in.

“As I awoke this evening with the smell of wood smoke clinging, like a gentle cobweb hanging upon a painted teepee”

I am one of those lucky individuals who chose an Internet lifestyle working from home. I call it lucky because it allows me on occasion to let me mind drift off in the distance, whether in the past or to the future. It allows my conscious and sub conscious mind to merge without having a boss breathing over my shoulder or a co-worker wondering if I’m contributing my fair share to the company’s bottom line.

Today I had several of those moments and when my mind returned to the everyday realties, the opening line of this story, borrowed from Elton John’s 1970 master piece ballad “Indian Sunset”, kept playing in my head. I kept thinking about how generations ago people passed on stories, wisdom, morals and advice to their children and grand children around the camp fires on the beaches and prairies of this country.

Since reading Jamie D’s story on why Amelia Island is an attractive place for people to retire, I have been occupied with the thought that if “retired” people are re-entering the workplace while unemployment is already reaching devastating levels, people coming out of college or high school will face an even more uphill battle trying to secure jobs and build a life.

So I came up with just a micro solution for a handful of previously retired people who are looking at re-entering the workplace. Don’t do it. If it is social contact you’re looking for as well as a feeling of satisfactory accomplishment, the following might be an idea for you to participate in.

I have always valued, even as a boy scout back in the old country, the nightly stories around the campfire. Especially stories by and of people who had survived challenging situations through skill, understanding or luck. I always figured, they’re still alive and telling their story, so they must have done something right!

Most of my language skills were initiated and developed around camp fires on the beaches of Italy, Spain, Greece, Holland and even on cold nights in the Sahara Desert.

So here is my wacky thought:
Why not organize at least one evening every month with camp fire stories on the beach of Amelia Island and have older people tell their life stories and important wisdom and pass on experiences like tribal elders did in Indian tribes and gypsy elders do to their children in their travels around the globe. Many older people with great stories would like to write a book, which they will never do, and this would allow them to pass on some of the vast knowledge and wisdom they possess to children and young adults, who have no clue about life before cellphones, computers and video games.

Just a thought that came when my mind wandered off.

Let me know if there are some brave souls out there who would like to see an idea like this come to fruition. I’ll be happy to put some energy in it. I might even bring my guitar and play folk songs of long ago.
Write me at Publisher@SearchAmelia.com