The story goes back to right after 9/11. Bob Jamerson was a flight attendant, laid off and depressed. A therapist told him to do something that brought him joy."A month after 9/11, I remembered that. I went back in my closet and pulled this baton I hadn't twirled in 20-some odd years, and I took my baton and exercise gear to go into that park to literally twirl my own spirit out of depression. I was just looking around at everybody's temperament after 9/11, and we're still so down and out and distraught, and I kept saying to myself, what else can I do to make a difference in this mindset? If I could just make people laugh, I don’t care if they were laughing at me or with me. I look at the sky and think about what a wonderful feeling to be this free, because our society has so many issues and it's apparent that I have stepped on a lot of those barriers. When you take time out and think about the climate that this world is in with the war in Iraq, Afghanistan, with the tsunamis, with all the natural disasters, there needs to be a thousand of us around the country lifting people's spirits and you hear the car horns. That's a sign to me that it is working. It is working what it was meant to work for. I'll be honest with you. If someone had said to me six years ago that this is what I would be doing, I would have looked at them as crazy."
Baton Bob, Ambassador of Mirth
Baton Bob on Laugh Out
Baton Bob on Laugh Out
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