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Minnetonka Mini-School Archives

We the unwilling, led by the unqualified, have been doing the unbelievable for so long, with so little, we now attempt the impossible with nothing. - Mini-School Credo

A Good Teacher / “Plus!” a Friend

April 1, 1975 by Mini Archives

By Mike Rishavy

Thunder like a man it must be free
Lightning like the wind it must be free
Mother nature came to give her love
but like a foolish child we used it up.

In my younger days I knew a man
I knew him well.
He helped me through my sadder times
and got me through a spell.
Showed me how to live and love and laugh at
things out loud.
And told me of the things in life
you can’t find on a shelf.
And he would always say

Thunder like a man it must be free
Lightning like the wind it must be free
Mother nature came to give her love
but like a foolish child we used it up.

Well days have come and gone I’ve seen then
pass before my eyes
I’m now a young man of the world
there can be no disguise.
The man I knew before is still my friend.
He’ll always be
He tells me of the dreams he has and what
he longs to be.
And he would always say

Thunder like a man it must be free
Lightning like the wind it must be free
Mother nature came to give her love
but like a foolish child we used it up.

The man I knew before he’s gone
He died one early morn’ he’s gone
But I still can see him walk
I still can hear him say–
I still can hear him talk–
And I remember the words he used to say

And he would always say

Thunder like a man it must be free
Lightning like the wind it must be free
Mother nature came to give her love
but like a foolish child we used it up.

Posted in: Poems and Stories Tagged: Mike Rishavy

Latest Updates:
10/28/24 - Found some negatives for a sledding trip to the Orono Golf Course in 1980 so added a new slideshow for that.
9/25/2024 - Uploaded an additional 53 PDF files of Com-Mini-Cations, started to convert the articles into individual posts.
5/28/2024 - Created slideshows for miscellaneous trips and classroom photos plus a slideshow for unidentified trips, lots of updates to existing slideshows, slide scanning complete
5/27/2024 - Slideshows for Big Fork Canoe 1996, Women's Bike Trip 1994, North Shore Women's Trip 1994, Southwest Utah Trip 1992, Winter Camping 1998 & 1999, St Louis 1998, Insights 1993
5/23/2024 - Slideshows for Classroom 1992, new photos to Classroom 1996, and the Mini 25th Reunion.

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