One month ago I was standing on Hempstead Heath with a Action Man from Greenpeace. We admired the Henry Moore sculpture at the top of a meadow. His wife was playing with the dog. Their son was meandering with his teenage cousin. The sky was gray. It was good to be in London with friends.

In June Frank had been arrested in Greenland for trespassing on an oil platform to protest the exploitation of the Arctic Sea. The police had thrown Frank in Nuuk jail.

“The coppers are Danish and the other prisoners were Inuits. They treated us alright, although the food was wretched and it was the time of 24-hours days, so the cells were never dark. When they transported us to stand trial in Denmark, the coppers put us in chains, but sat us in 1st Class and upon arrival in Copenhagen we were the first people off the plane. That really got on the nerve of the 1st Classers.”

Frank has been arrested in many countries. His name is listed under eco-terrorists by US Homeland Security. He is the father of my friend’s two children. The shed in their backyard serves as the HQ for the local Ping-Pong club.

According to the UK Guardian ‘Greenland has condemned as illegal a protest by Greenpeace activists who scaled an oil rig in a bid to prevent a British company from drilling in Arctic waters off the North Atlantic island.’

To me Frank is a hero. I praise his actions on every occasion and while I am a Greenpeace donor I also recognized that the man has altered the planet to the tipping point and in Hampstead Heath I said to Frank, “The Earth is doomed.”

I told him about the rising seas in Thailand.

“We’ve passed the threshold.” I’m almost 60. I lived during the 50s and 60s. The world had half the population that it does today, but as The Grassroots sang, “Sha na na na na live for today and don’t worry about tomorrow.”, so I challenge Frank to a footrace.

50 yards on the wet grass.

He’s 48 and lean.

“On the count of three,” shouted his wife Nina.

“Go.”

We ran our hardest.

I had a lead for most of the distance, but Frank pulled into the lead and beat me by a half-stride.

It was good fun and I told him that Greenpeace could count on a $50 donation.

This gift was long overdue.

Once I got back to the USA I googled Frank’s name and discovered that he had been offered a job by the notorious security firm, Blackwater, with a starting salary of $150,000 plus health benefits.

Frank told the Guardian, “When I opened their email I didn’t know whether to feel flattered or offended. Even if I was interested, the CIA would probably have taken one look at my CV and thrown me into an Iraqi prison. We flew over Fairford dropping anti-war leaflets on the US military just hours before the B-52s took off to bomb Bagdhad. I never imagined the Americans would be contacting me a year later to see if I would help defend them in Iraq.”

If only I could be Frank.

Good money and a chance to strike the beast from within.

ps the record for the 50 yard dash was set by Stanley Floyd, United States.

1/22/84

5.22 seconds.