Ron had wanted to spend camp playing, swimming, and taking long hikes with kids, normal kids. His illusions were quickly washed away at the first site of them. Ron was appalled when he first met the children that he was to spend two weeks with at Camp Wiggen. He thought of them as a bunch of "disfigured wheelchair children,"ÃÂ and truly dreaded living with them for the next two weeks. He almost quit, but decided to stay for the money. He had no empathy for the children; only disgust. Ron was to be the councilor of Benny B, Spider, Thomas Stewart, Martin and Arid. Benny B had no legs; Spider had neither legs nor arms; Thomas Stewart lacked the necessary fiber and muscle to hold his body together; Martin was blind; and Arid did not have a bladder. Both the children and Ron felt a little "nutty"ÃÂ about being at the camp.
Ron Paul for President 2008 sign
Lookout Mountain's apex, as seen from Moccasin Ben...
Lookout Mountain, as viewed from Signal Mountain. ...They all sensed it, so they made necklaces of nuts, acorn necklaces. From then on, the group of kids and councilor became known as the Acorn People.
By the evening of the first day of camp, Ron admitted that he "was exhausted and angry." He feared that "this illness surrounding me would somehow rub off." The camp was not wheelchair accessible, and the schedule was impossible to follow when each task took five times as long to accomplish compared to a normal kid. However, by the end of the second day, Ron Jones realized that he felt good and he began thinking about the children in a more positive way, and saw each of them as individuals instead of just "handicap children."ÃÂ In spite of the handicaps that the children had, these five children were able to swim, hike up Lookout Mountain, help in a play, and become involved in many other activities such as archery and cooking. They accepted, loved, and appreciated others. They proved that they too, wanted to feel accepted, loved, and appreciated and needed to be given the opportunity to play and dream. These five children were able to defy everyone's assumption of what handicapped children ought to do, what they could learn, and were able discover each persons individuality. The Acorn People proved that with encouragement and determination, labels could be overcome, and seemingly impossible problems could be conquered and solved.
English: Acorn Meat Products - Front Street
Children have walked for weeks across the desert t...
English: The Aldwarke acorn The sculpture was comm...