Yes, this is one of those rewards that is real reward. To think that a hat cheered this guy up, made his life a little bit less trying is all that anyone could ever ask for. It's not often that I can really make a difference, even a small one in another's life, so it is a treasure to me personally. I won't ever forget this.
Not too far in the past, I got a lovely letter from a 13 year old Indy fan, who lived on farm, and who's family could not afford one of my hats. So, the lad went to work in his spare time to save up enough to buy my rabbit hat. Now, how in the world could I charge this kid the full price? I could not do it. So, as I told Michaelson recently, off line, I made this great kid(you would have to have read his letter to understand) a hat and charged him only for the felt body, as I believe in working and saving up. I did not just give it away, because he worked to pay the price for the felt, and he had to labor to own one. But I did hit him a lick, and got an invite to ride horses on their farm if I am ever in the area.
Way back, I used to just give my hats away to folks that were die hard fans but could not afford one. These days, while I would still do it, the work load prohibits it. The fact is, I actually enjoy giving em away more than selling em. But you can't buy bodies and parts if you do that for long.
But my pleasure is derived from helping folks, and that sort of pleasure cannot be had by any other act that I know of. As I get closer to the end of my own life, I finally realized that giving is the real treasure of life, and giving while expecting nothing in return. This kid above will aways remember the hat I made for him, and that I hit him a lick. So, for as long as he lives, I live, if only in his memory, and perhaps my own example to him will be the example that he lives by as he grows and turns into a man. What better example could I have set for him? I think indivdual acts CAN affect the lives of others in positive ways. My only fault is that I have not sown enough good seeds in my life. But, you can't go back and change things. But I can try to make up for it, I guess, whenever I can. And I will.
While hatting has been very profitable to me, it never was my intent to make much money doing this. I was doing this for other reasons, mostly because of the love of the Indy fedora, and how difficult it was for me to find one way back that I was pleased with. So, it is strange to me, that I started out with no intention of ever making much money by making hats, yet, I have made alot of money from making hats. But Indy 4 caused that to happen. Yet, the money really held no importance to me, but making the Indy 4 hats is priceless. I mean, a dream come true. I have been the luckiest guy to ever walk the earth. Sometimes things just happen, and you did not seek it, although you dreamed it. And that seems to be my life's story. I never thought back 10 years ago that I would be involved in producing the 4th Indy hat, as it seemed impossible. But apparently it was not impossible, thanks to a series of events that involved other members here in being contacted to make the hats. IF NOT for other people, who are fans, someone else would have been contacted and not us. Therefore I can take no credit for it, yet others can. You know who you are. If a certain fan had not been at Peter's when he got the call, and if he had not suggested me and Marc, things would have turned out differently. This guy never tried to take any credit either, as I found out from another person that he had suggested to Peter, to tell Bernie about us. So, we got help from a guy who never mentioned it to us. We owe him a lot, that is for sure. Miracles do happen. And there are more generous folks on this earth than other sorts.
