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and 5 times 250 is 1,000". I
sat at awe and wonder at how obtuse he was. What was to say that I
didn't do 5 spread sheets a day for a year? What would happen to his
logic if I created a spread sheet on my day off? Who cares how
many spread sheets ANYONE has EVER created?
He revisited his tirade about
how "American students don't learn s*it in school". He told me that
85% of all elementary school and middle school teachers are criminals. He determined that because 85% of all teachers
are women,
and women don't know what "...a little boy wants". He said "a
little boy wants to go into business for himself". I thought
that he hasn't spent much time lately with little boys, because most of the boys
that I know don't even know what it means to go into business for
themselves. He said that "women can't
teach a boy how to go into business for themselves (because they are
women, I guess), therefore little boys have to learn that on the
job". The inference I extrapolated was that "women can't
teach boys, because boys want to go into business and since women are not
boys, they can't teach boys - anything. By far, I found that to
be the lost lopsided syllogism I have ever
heard.
I had another call come in and I clicked
over. When I went back, he hung up. When I called him back,
he told me he had thrown my resume away, assuming that I "...didn't
want to hear (his) voice anymore". Something tells me that a
lot of other people got tired of listening to his insane machinations and
hung up
on him.
The Interview
I couldn't pass up the opportunity to
meet this enigmatic man. I accomplished my goal by sitting
mute while he rambled through an insane diatribes for two and a
half hours. He drove me around his entire farm, a massive piece of
land west of the Shireland property. Like the "little boy"
that he claims to be, he seems to enjoy buying things, playing with them
for a while and then abandoning them. Although, just like another insane
genius (Howard Hughes), he never disposes of anything - he puts them in
storage. We passed the massive sheds that contained the dragons from
Shireland. I asked what the 6 or 7 trailers were that we
passed. He told me they were "...the sh*t houses from Shireland".
Why he kept that stuff, I do not know. The property was littered
with trucks, plows and even houses on ponds that he alleged built -
that no one lives in.
Our conversation would go from how he
wants to create DVDs that will promote family values and send them to
non-profit organizations all over the world to how the Moslems are trying
to take over the world by having 6 to 7 children, while we in the United
States cap off our child production at 2 or 3.
He talked
about being in the Army in the 1950's, donating horses to the military in
the 1980's and the present day as through they were all happened at the
same time. He told me how he grew up with no father and
how his mother was "cock-crazy" which led to him having a series of of
stepfathers. One stepfather in particular who would tie him up and
gag him and hang him and his 3-years old sister upside down in a closet
(heck of a thing to tell someone in a job interview!).
I had to tread lightly when it came to
asking questions about Shireland, because Smrt is a very volatile
man. He did say that "Shireland broke me emotionally and every
other way". He said that one thing that led to his emotional break-down
was the protesters that there were at the park at the day it
opened. It seemed that a rival group of horse breeders tried
to quash his efforts (according to him. That was the first time I
had ever heard such a story). I asked him how many people
worked at Shireland and he answered "100". When I acted
surprised, he said, "well, maybe 50." I concluded that
dealing with the employees and general public was more than he was willing
to take. He concluded by saying that he wants to make videos
about Shireland, but didn't know what he would do with it once it was
completed.
What Did I learn?
Many things made more sense
to me after meeting Thomas Smrt. The first thing was that he had an
unhappy childhood, which explains why he created an idyllic settings
like Shireland. He had an unhappy school experience, largely because
he needed to learn in an alternative learning environment, where he could
be involved in "problem-based learning" - type scenarios.
Having said that, I don't think such practices existed when he was in
school. He is a self-made man, and has been able to make his millions
on his own terms, a condition that he does not want to sacrifice in
anything that he does. That is a consideration that has
alienated him from many opportunities. He, however, doesn't realize
that he is unique and that most people don't have his intelligence, his
fortitude or his iconoclasm to want to forge their way into the world alone as he
has. Finally, he is so intelligent that his mind is restless.
He has to be involved in things to keep himself occupied and
happy.
Possibly the biggest thing
that I learned through all of this is that if Smrt would have closed the
park in 1991 and yanked down all of the buildings, none of these web sites
(mine included) would have never been created. Shireland would have been a distant
memory, like Garfield Goose or Commando Cody. The abandoned
buildings themselves was the very thing that kept Shireland alive in our minds. Sadly, Shireland, like George
Bailey from "It's a Wonderful Life" is more popular dead than
alive!
Anyone who is so brash, so needy
to spread his bizarre message and so powerful, due to his wealth, is going
to step on toes. The following pages will document other peoples'
experiences. Read
On:
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