When things count.

When Jed was Six years old he had been getting treated for leukemia for two years. Jeds mother and grandmother and father (me) all had jobs at Harley Davidson in York Pa. They give tours to people everyday. Jed decided he wanted to see where we all worked. At that time we were very proud to work at Harley Davidson. We loved the motorcycles and so did Jed. The policy at harley is that you need to be twelve years old to take the tour of the factory. Kristin called and explained to them that Jed had cancer and that we didn't really know what the outcome of his illness would be and would they let him take the tour so he could see what his parents and grandmother did for a living. The company said there was no way. They said that it was to big of a liability. Even so hundreds of people went through everyday without incident. Kristin called or emailed Willy Davidson and explained the situation to him on a phone message. The lady in charge of tours and security got really pissed off that Kristin would go over her head. There was just know way that Jed could do this. It was just way to dangerous. A motorcycle might fall on him or run him over or something. I always thought his leukemia was probably more dangerous than a factory tour. Anyway, two weeks after all the power play drama, Jed did get to go on the tour and see where we worked. Jeds grandfather (Hop) took him to the tour and told one of the tour guides that Jed had Leukemia and would like to go on the tour but he wasn't old enough. The tour guide just smiled and said enjoy the tour. Jed saw us work and all the people we worked with. They all stopped and said hi to Jed. Jed was thrilled. He didn't get hurt, the Company didn't get sued. All because a tour guide had more sense than his boss. People get so hung up in their position of power that they loose focus on what counts. Another great example of someone who probably had a lot more to loose than Harley Davidson was the people at Dover speedway. For my fiftieth birthday Kristin bought me ten laps of driving a race car at Dover. It was awesome. I hauled ass. While I was driving around the track Kristin and Jed talked to one of the track foreman's . Jed told him he had leukemia. Well before you knew it they had Jed strapped in a race car. They even found a booster seat for him to sit on so he could see out the windshield. They also found a helmet that was a little big but worked. The driver said he would just drive on the tarmac and go slow. We told him Jed likes to go fast. The next thing you saw was this car that Jed was in, going on the track, the monster mile , at about 140 miles a hour. The guy driving said on the headphones " you should see the smile on this kids face" It was so awesome. Jed was so happy. The guys at the track said 'I think we broke about every rule today". You had to be at least 16 just to ride as a passenger in these cars. Jed loved to tell the story how they broke all the rules for him. The point of all this rambling is that sometimes rules need to be broken. It seems that people with love and compassion have a lot more sense than people that are always just thinking of the bottom line or saving their ass. Factory tour or Hauling ass in a race car. One was ,there is just no way possible we can help this kid, and the other was lets show him we care and have a little fun. Love your children.