wisdom of age

A salute to all my older friends

 This year in all your travels you wonder across an old guy just rocking on his front porch Just wave at him.

This country is by far the most forgiving and friendliest country in the world. Don’t let the politics sway your option about our old neighborhoods and country towns.  The problem is in that there isn't’t much for the lonesome old folks to do these days. Wal-Mart and the grocery stores used to hire my old friends but I guess those days are gone also. Going to the neighborhood recreation center to crochet or finger paint isn’t an option for a lot of the elderly.

My mother lived to be 94 years old but the last few years were not as sociable as we might think it should have been. The truth of the madder is that older folks have a tendency to start reverting back to a happier tome in their life when things were a whole lot simpler.

I had lunch with an old friend that I only see for the afternoon lunch break. For the past three months I had been recuperating from a Kidney transplant and had not been out of the house only for medical treatments. When I stepped into the little ole dinner to have a break he was grinning from ear to ear. I ordered my food and went over to say hello, well you would have thought I was a lost brother or someone of great importance. My friend said where the hell have you been, I have been so worried about you. I had lunch with the old guy and once again parted knowing Ali was OK again. My friend comes to the dinner to see other old friends that don’t have anything to do either.

Growing up as a very young kid in Minnesota I can vaguely remember old folks setting around the restaurant in their bib overalls just talking about the weather, old tractors or maybe that old dog that just won’t hunt no more. These are the backbone of once was the great America that most of us grew up in. The Government was just a group of men in Washington that made new laws and spent money.

The new word of computers and mass communications via cable hand held’s have shortened the livelihood of a lot of Americans who actually talked to people either by telephone or in the morning coffee at the greasy spoon restaurant. The more people communicate with each other and not through some electronic media, the healthier people will start to feel.  

People were not meant to be alone in life, it is essential to the socialization skills that we keep talking and celebrating holidays with each other. The celebration of all special holiday’s that we believe in is up to our personal life style, ancestry and religious standing that you truly serve. In America as a rule we all celebrate Christmas or something close, so growing up with these experiences locked away in your head after 70, 80 or more years is kind of hard to quit.  We must respect old people for they were my parents as well as yours.  Life runs through the veins of everyone in this country who has lived long enough to defend themselves against someone of lower caliber or standing in life.

If I could have only been smart enough to interview some of the people I have met in my life I would have filled a truck load of books. The average person is worthy and well quaffed to render those mysterious answers of life. Let’s just listen a little closer and be respectful  to the great deeds that others have done that has enabled you to be free to question.