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First allow me to state that the 70's were a different time, yet still the same principals applied when it came to being a little brother, my parents had divorced when I was 6 and my dad had left the US when I was 9. With what was called Big Brothers Organization at that time, I was paired with 3 different guys. The first was an Architec for the city of Kalamazoo, the second was a retail business owner. Both were great at listening and asking questions, it seemed as if either were great influences and had we remained paired things may have turned out completely different.
My Third Big Brother is much different from the other Two. A business owner nontheless yet still very different.
Our first time out we went camping, set up the tent and got a fire going, all the normal things one does when you go camping. Then here's where things started to get a bit different from the other Big Brothers I had. We were both sitting at a picnic table and he said to me" there's something I do every night and if the Big Brothers Org. ever found out we wouldn't be paired any longer". As I stated it was a differnt time, and being a new teenager (13-14) his next move got my attention. He then pulled a baggy of Pot out and asked if I had ever smoked before. At that time (the 70's) alot of kids were smoking alot of pot, me being a poor kid as well as my friends it was rare but we did a few times. I told him sure as if it were a regular thing for me and he proceeded to roll us One up. Still to this day I haven't had anything that was like what he smoked with me back then. Later I found out that he always mixed hashish with it, to give it a bigger kick. Sadly I think I can recall maybe 5-7 times we did normal Big Brother things, like raquet ball once or twice, bowling once, the others are kinda foggy. But typically we just went to his business smoked a joint then he had "other" work things to do so he put me to work there at his warehouse. Sadly I think I had deeper conversations with one of his employees than him.
I named this the way I did because he used to call me his Big Little Brother, only because I was about a foot taller than him. Weirdly enough he seemed to bring that fact up all too often.
Time went on and the same thing seemed to happen, we'd go to his wharehouse or his home, smoke a joint then I'd work for him at the warehouse. I really don't think he was doing that to instill a work ethic in me, it got me out of the way while he claimed fame to being such a great.. Big Brother.
Eventually I got too old for a Big Brother, and I think our family moved again. I dropped out of Highschool and enlisted in the Marine Corps. Failed at that and came back to Kalamazoo. My former Big Brother graced me with a job at a warehouse that was away from him, I tried then to talk to him about the past, but it seemed as if he was just too busy to sit down for 10 minutes and listen to me. I moved on and away from that part of the state, but all the while wanting to have that conversation with him.
Last year I started thinking about all the what ifs and had I done things differents, like requesting a different Big Brother, at least one that wasn't going to influence me in that direction. But as we all know you can't change the past, but you can change the future. And perhaps by bringing this to light somewhere out there some young teenage boy or girl will get the chance I never really did, to grow up straight and without someone influening them to smoke pot, then later feeling brushed aside.
Last year it started to really bother me and I wanted to know if perhaps my former Big Brother would be willing to at least talk to me. I reached out to him and googled his name to see how he was doing. It was probably 2-3 weeks later after reaching out, I read in his local newspaper that he mentioned me and that he and I were planning on doing some fishing soon. Imagine my surprise when I found that out, that's only the start. From my googling I also discovered that he was or still is on the board of Big Brothers/Big Sisters Org. at or near the top. He also claimed that I had been doing well and had a favorable past in the military.
I then, being reserved and calm about it all reached out again and simply said that we needed to talk about what was written in the newspaper. He replied weeks later that he was going to be in my area and for the 3rd time I sent him my cell phone number. A week later I got an email that said he has so many emails that he didn't get to mine untill after he had left my area, still no call. I put an entire days work off for someone, on the weekend waiting for him to call me. Guess the mans just too Big.........Hmm go figure.
To Whom it may Concern,
The article I've sent (My little big brother) was also sent to Ed Bernard, which is the unnamed Big Brother in it. He is completely denying all of it, but I have great details as well as former friends from back then that I'm sure will confirm my statements. Even though I haven't had any contact from those former friends I am confident they will agree and solidify what has been said. Another fact you should consider is that Ed has made absolutely no effort over the past 30+ years to contact me, not even to catch up or see how I was doing. I do realize those facts are an embarassment not only to Ed, but also to the BBBS. I haven't yet sent my article to anyone else except Ed and now to you.
The Kalamazoo Gazette will have post a retraction if I send it to them as well, but I am allowing you to help rectify it instead of embarassing anyone further. I can only hope and pray that your Organization will help in every way possible to rectify the past. And God willing there are steps in place now that prevent such occurances from happening to any other Little in your Org..
Thank you for your attention,
Respects,
C W P
unbelieved1@yahoo.com
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