[ad_1]
Hi folks! Boy has my lifestyle changed! My daughter gets our groceries for us and I have only been in the car once in the last two weeks and that was to take something to the post office. That is a new record!
Someday as our grandchildren read about the year 2020, I hope they will think that we did all we could do to be safe and to help with the safety of others. The following story will give all we are going through some clarity of our parents and grandparents as they struggled through World War II.
“I talked with a man today, an 80+ year old man. I asked him if there was anything, I can get him while this coronavirus scare was gripping America.
“He simply smiled, looked away and said: “Let me tell you what I need! I need to believe, at some point, this country my generation fought for … I need to believe this nation we handed safely to our children and their children …
“I need to know this generation will quit being a bunch of sissies … that they respect what they’ve been given … that they’ve earned what others sacrificed for.”
“I wasn’t sure where the conversation was going or if it was going anywhere at all. So, I sat there, quietly observing.
“You know, I was a little boy during WWII. Those were scary days. We didn’t know if we were going to be speaking English, German or Japanese at the end of the war. There was no certainty, no guarantees like Americans enjoy today.
“And no home went without sacrifice or loss. Every house, up and down every street, had someone in harm’s way. Maybe their Daddy was a soldier, maybe their son was a sailor, maybe it was an uncle. Sometimes it was the whole damn family … fathers, sons, uncles …
“Having someone, you love, sent off to war … it wasn’t less frightening than it is today. It was scary as Hell. If anything, it was more frightening. We didn’t have battle front news. We didn’t have email or cellphones. You sent them away and you hoped … you prayed. You may not hear from them for months, if ever. Sometimes a mother was getting her son’s letters the same day Dad was comforting her over their child’s death.
“And we sacrificed. You couldn’t buy things. Everything was rationed. You were only allowed so much milk per month, only so much bread, toilet paper. EVERYTHING was restricted for the war effort. And what you weren’t using, what you didn’t need, things you threw away, they were saved and sorted for the war effort. My generation was the original recycling movement in America.
“And we had viruses back then … serious viruses. Things like polio, measles and such. It was nothing to walk to school and pass a house or two that was quarantined. We didn’t shut down our schools. We didn’t shut down our cities. We carried on, without masks, without hand sanitizer. And do you know what? We persevered. We overcame. We didn’t attack our President, we came together. We rallied around the flag for the war. Thick or thin, we were in it to win. And we would lose more boys in an hour of combat than we lose in entire wars today.”
“He slowly looked away again. Maybe I saw a small tear in the corner of his eye. Then he continued:
“Today’s kids don’t know sacrifice. They think a sacrifice is not having coverage on their phone while they freely drive across the country. Today’s kids are selfish and spoiled. In my generation, we looked out for our elders. We helped with single moms whose husbands were either at war or dead from war. Today’s kids rush the store, buying everything they can … no concern for anyone but themselves. It’s shameful the way Americans behave these days. None of them deserve the sacrifices their granddads made.
“So, no I don’t need anything. I appreciate your offer but, I know I’ve been through worse things than this virus. But maybe I should be asking you, what can I do to help you? Do you have enough pop to get through this, enough steak? Will you be able to survive with 113 channels on your TV?”
“I smiled, fighting back a tear of my own … now humbled by a man in his 80’s. All I could do was thank him for the history lesson, leave my number for emergency and leave with my ego firmly tucked in my pocket.
“I talked to a man today. A real man. An American man from an era long gone and forgotten. We will never understand the sacrifices. We will never fully earn their sacrifices. But we should work harder to learn about them … learn from them …to respect them …”
+++
Our birthday list for the week includes April 6 – Stacie Pierce; April 7 – Alice Schopher and Gary Young; April 8 – Roger Bickhart and Danny Newcomer; April 9 – Don “Dude” Spreng; April 10 – Deb Allerding; April 11 – George Ebenhoh and Dave Stacy; April 13 – Loleta Eberhart and Elise Lingenfelter.
Many happy returns of the day!
+++
Wedding anniversaries to note this week include Jim and Leslie Weber, April 8; Jerry and Cathy Quickle, April 9, their 26th; Dale and Chris Knoble, April 11, their 44th; Jerry and Debbie Kline, April 11.
Congratulations!
+++
Finally – When growing up in the ’60s, kids attended school every day. We survived the horrible scare of polio and stood in line with our parents to receive our vaccine.
During the Bay of Pigs invasion, we were drilled on how to protect ourselves during a bombing.
We survived the horrific 9-11 tragedy as well.
Never did I think that something like this coronavirus would cause me to be frightened like that again. Please use your common sense and be safe as every one of you is important and worthwhile. Be a survivor, not a statistic!
Let’s block ads! (Why?)
[ad_2]