Larry Walters' boyhood dream was to fly. He joined the Air Force in hopes of becoming a pilot. Unfortunately, poor eyesight disqualified him. When he was finally discharged, he had to satisfy himself with watching jets overhead his back garden.
   One day, Walters had a bright idea. He went to a local Army-Navy surplus store and purchased 45 weather balloons and several tanks of helium. Back home, Walters securely strapped the balloons to his sturdy deck chair. He anchored the chair to the bumper of this jeep and inflated the balloons with the helium. He climbed on for a test while it was still only a few feet above the ground. He packed several sandwiches and a six-pack of Miller Lite -- loaded his pellet gun figuring he could pop a few balloons when it was time to descend and went back to the floating deck chair.
   Walters' plan was to lazily float up to a height of about 30 feet above his back yard and in a few hours come back down. Things didn't quite work out that way.
   After his crew purposely cut the first tether, the second one also snapped which shot Walters into the LA sky at over 1,000 feet per minute. So fast was his ascent that he lost his glasses. He then climbed to over 16,000 feet. For several hours he drifted in the cold air near the LA and Long Beach airports. A TWA pilot first spotted Walters and radioed the tower that he was passing a guy in a lawn chair at 16,000! Larry started shooting out a few balloons to start his descent but had accidentally dropped the gun. He eventually landed in a Long Beach neighborhood. Although he was entangled in some power lines, he was uninjured.
   As soon as Walters was hauled to earth, he was arrested by waiting members of the LAPD for violating LAX airspace. As he was led away in handcuffs -- a reporter dispatched to cover the daring rescue asked why he had done it. Walters stopped, turned, and replied nonchalantly, "A man can't just sit around."
   The stunt earned Walters a $1,500 fine from the FAA, the top prize from the Bonehead Club of Dallas, the altitude record for gas-filled clustered balloons (which could not be officially recorded because he was unlicensed and unsanctioned) and international admiration. He appeared on "The Tonight Show" and was flown to New York to be on "Late Night With David Letterman," which he later described as "the most fun I've ever had."
   Larry Walters' dream to do something different reaches beyond the normal sanity of most people. But the fact that he was willing to go above and beyond (literally) anyone's greatest imagination provides others with a foundation that it is time to not just sit around, but to do something with your life.
   It isn't suggested that you go to this extreme, but it is challenging to think of ways that you can influence your world and make a difference in the lives of others. Try it -- you might like it!
   E-mail: drdd@swbell.net
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