There is a huge rock near a gravel pit on Highway.25 in rural Iowa near Greenfield. For generations kids scrawled nothing but graffiti on its face with slogans, names, and obscenities on the rock, changing it's character many times. It was quite a problem and an eyesore to everyone living in the area. Something needed to be done but folks were unsure what could be done.

Then a few years ago a young man who grew up in the area decided to do something about the problem. He was inspired by the film "Saving Private Ryan" and knew he could make better use of the natural rock canvas. He gave the 12-foot-high, 56-ton rock a most unique paint job and since then it has been left nearly undisturbed.

The first painting he did actually looked like there was the U.S. flag draped over the rock, but it wasn't. It was painted right on the rock. Each year since then he has given the rock a paint job. It is quite an impressive sight with many people driving to the area just to see the unique rock, the new artists rendering each year, and the continuing tribute to U.S. veterans.

Ray "Bubba" Sorensen II, now a Des Moines resident who works as an ad and web designer, was a 19-year-old Iowa State University student who had seen the Greenfield rock many times before when in 1999, he decided to begin what has become an ongoing artistic tribute to America's veterans. As Ray said:

"It was right around Memorial Day, and I was driving by that rock and wondered what it would be like if I actually took the time to go out there and paint it. And so I painted it with the flag-raising at Iwo Jima. I got such a huge response that I kept painting it. I've been painting it for the last six years with tributes to veterans on Memorial Day."

So each year around Memorial Day, Ray uses white paint to cover over his previous year's work, then spends one to three weeks creating new scenes on his blank canvas. During the years he has featured scenes depicting Washington's crossing of the Delaware, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and America's response to the September 11 terrorist attacks along with quotes from presidents Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy, and George W. Bush, all capped by renderings of draped American and POW and MIA flags. 

Only once in the six years he has been painting the rock has his work been defaced, Ray told an American Forces Press Service reporter. His tribute to the veterans of the Pearl Harbor attack painted in 2001 was vandalized a few weeks after it was completed, but the perpetrator "got a punch in the face from a Vietnam War veteran for his trouble," and his work has remained undisturbed ever since.

So one person can make a difference. In fact he was a teenager. A 19 year old kid with an idea and he took the time and energy to make it happen. Take a look at all the rock pictures that he has painted on his web site at: http://bubbazartwork.com/ I wrote him to ask if it were okay to use his story on the 52Best web site. He said: "You sure can. Thank you for your interest in my artwork." Truly a good "kid."

You have a problem? Someone else has a problem? Look for a solution Take the time and effort to make it happen. It feels good, very good, to make a difference.

         ~ Edited with Comments by C. F. Sandy Pofahl ~

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