Mike Farrell/BJ - rozprávali sme sa nielen o MASH...

Emotions and help to the world

Lukáš Lancz:

Before we start with interview I need to mention your book, “Just Call Me Mike” which is very honest, enjoyable and full of powerful stories so I can recommend it to everyone to read it - not just fans of the MASH.

Lukáš Lancz:

In your book, you openly share that you dealt with emotional issues as a young person, and that you were helped by a Marvin Bass. What advice would you give to young people today who are struggling with their emotions?

Mike Farrell:

That’s difficult you know, people have their own issues to deal with and I think the answer is to deal with them, to be as straightforward and honest and hopeful as you can be. At some level trust your instincts, but sometimes that can be deceptive. Instincts are some dictated by fear, circumstances but I think the most important I thing for people, for me it was and for everybody who’s problems tend to overwhelm them, to understand they have value and that if they trust fundamental instincts they will lead them to a right direction, I think people are basically good. Too many people don’t know they are worthwhile, don’t they have value because they are treated badly or sometime, they’ve got idea they don’t live up to expectations of other. From my own experience I can say that you are good, you are decent, you are worthwhile and you are, as we all are in need of loving, need of attention and need of being respected and once you discover that you deserve those things, you are on right path.

Lukáš Lancz:

Fans of MASH know you as BJ Hunnicutt and in Slovakia as well as Dr.James Hansen. But not everyone knows you how passionate and caring about the world you are. If my list is correct, I’ve counted 9 organizations: Concern America, the Committee on U.S./Central American Relations, Projects for Planetary Peace, Interreligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East, Human Rights Watch, The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, The Christian Children’s Fund, Death Penalty Focus, and, the Center for International Policy – you are involved in many things that tries to improve injustice in this world. It’s amazing…

Mike Farrell:

They are all branches of same basic concern – death penalty I think is awful, it’s antihuman to practice killing people because they don’t measure up to expectations, and there are some people who behave in very very destructive an inexcusable manner, so they need to have some consequences, but I think we only stoop to their level when we decide to kill them. But the point I was trying to make UNHCR is out there trying to help people who are center way from their home or chased away from their home is some instances and they were struck either by some terrible misfortune, natural misfortune or perhaps the war or terrible rules. So, it’s really all about human rights…
Human right watch is organization I have been involved for many years but it’s all the same, it’s really all about the rights of human being to live in manner which is comfortable and serves them.

Lukáš Lancz:

What was your personal trigger to explore all these options and help people around the world?

Mike Farrell:

If we are speaking about the time when there were elections (1st election in Czechoslovakia) I was invited and I was thrilled to be invited. I was invited because I had been involved in some other things that people who had organized this particular event or to be part of election oversight knew me and they said would you be willing be part of this. I would be thrilled to part of it, I wanted to see how people in that area dealt with first election in many many decades and you know I learn from those experiences and I was able to take that experience and come back here to my country and say people of, at that point it was before you split, it was Czech Republic at that time…people of Slovakia and Czech lands came together, it was for the first time under the boot of Soviet union and I said I was at the first election and people were lined up under 2nd floor of the school down the stairs, out in the street and down the street blocks to vote. Here in America if we are lucky, we get half of the people who can vote, to go out and do it. There are things that people in US takes for granted, that people in your country didn’t and we have a lot to learn as a result of the good things that’ve come our way and we begin to take advantage of rather than cherish the way people in your country did that day and I’m sure they do today.

Lukáš Lancz:

I believe it was in 1980 when you first traveled to Cambodia. What was your mission?

Mike Farrell:

That was correct it was 1979 or 80 and that was result of number of circumstances but when I was doing MASH, there was an episode of the show that dealt with BJ reaction to group of children who were refugees of war. I was contacted by a woman which I knew earlier part of my life, she was now a Doctor of Public Health and she asked if I would take a look at film made by a man who was associated with this organization and it was about children in Asia. I said I would be happy to, I did and I was very impressed with a film and they wanted to know if I could get some exposure for the film and therefor for organization and work they are doing. This is organization from Ireland called Concern and I was able to get it on TV show which was quite popular here. Dinah Shore, an actress had a daytime show and she invited me to come on show and talk about this film and actually interviewed priest who made the movie. This introduced me to this organization Concern and they had an American branch Concern America – they do wonderful work, they provided nurses, the provide nutritionist, they provide doctors they provide whatever is needed for different refugee situation in a world.

And as I’ve got to know them, they then decided they would like to have me be their official spoke person and I said that I would be honored to do that, but I needed to go out to the field, go out what they are doing some of their work to see for myself so that I’m just not saying the words that I’m talking about things I’ve seen and experiences. At that point the most important things or more pressing issue was in Thailand and Cambodian border area where as a result of depredation of Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge had just committed terrible terrible terrible crimes against these people and many of them rushed out for the country or tried to and they were stopped and Thai border, so the UN came in and set up a camp or many camps to take care of these people. They were sort of landless – they’ve couldn’t be in their own country and they were not welcomed in new country, so they were stuck on border.
And I went there and saw horrors of circumstances of these people and was able as a result of that to come back to US and talk to people why we should be supporting UN and why we should support in particular UNHCR and that begin through Concern, couple of trips that I took later on to Central America, two to Afrika and for me its mind expending, terrible gratifying to see the good work that some of these people are doing and be able to come back and talk about it because I’m helping in some way. I will say I feel little bit guilty, because I have US passport in my pocket, I can go to these counties strife and usually I can come home without any problem. Sometimes there is little bit of stress into that involved but generally speaking these are adventures and I can experience this.

Lukáš Lancz:

Are you traveling to these countries even nowadays – I mean before COVID year

Mike Farrell:

I haven’t been invited to do any of those trips. Most recently I was asked to go to Samoa in South pacific, this was against death penalty and to talk to government official to sing to the UN declaration about opposed to death penalty, so that was the last international effort I’ve been involved.