Mom, I'm playing a hostage for community service hours!

I had a very planned and productive day with the little one to the State Library on Friday which led me to the pile of books beside my bed.

But my aspie had a whole different kind of productive day in mind when he signed up for community service.  He will be writing the rest of this post...

"I've done two different community service projects this weekend. The one on saturday was a relaxing two-mile run with the Leo club of my High School in beautiful Honolulu Hawaii. That was to raise money for hungry in America and famine victims in Africa.  That was a walk in the park (literally...) compared to what I did the day before.

I know this sounds like a fantasy. But I was helping in the training of SWAT team members in a counter-terrorism drill. With the helicopter, bomb squad, EMTs and the whole enchilada. The volunteers at the office building had to choose between hostage, victim, roamer, or (duh-duh-duh) the hidden. From 5-10 o'clock, I spent the entire time as a hidden person on the fifth floor out of fourteen. It gets kind of boring so I walked down the hallway into the active shooter, just barely dodging him before running into a SWAT team who frisked me for weapons and led me down the stairs. We waited for hours before the last "hostages" were brought down. IT was highly stressful, and I could see the apprehension on the team member's faces. SWAT requires a huge amount of discipline and skill. They must search every room, every corner before they declare a floor clear. Their primary objective is to get the shooter, not the injured. So often times, they must ignore victims on the floor and head straight into the line of fire. Medics are not allowed to enter anywhere that is not cleared. The drill was a success, and I hope to participate in more SWAT drills sometime soon.

However, tomorrow, I'll be selling art, snacks, and handmade gifts for Shriner's hospital for children. I'll be raising money for children who are suffering from serious illness. This has been an extremely busy working weekend for me and I hope to have more like it. I got to do good work for Emergency workers, the poor, the hungry, and the sick. In reality, each event takes only a couple hours of my day, and can do so much good. I wonder what would happen if all Americans volunteered for one hour a week? Just saying....

This is W, Aspie who has made an imaginary journey from the front lines, to the famine stricken countries, and to the hospital beds of the sick. I encourage you all to volunteer. Peace. <3"