I have been trying to think of something to write about that would be different from the usual topics . If I don’t find something, people will get tired of my stories and say they are all the same. It’s not easy to come up with humors subjects,
Thinking back a few years, I came across this older man, older than I am, I was out walking and this man was really unsteady and trying to get up a short flight of stairs, to his porch and into his house. He apparently lived by himself with no one to look after him. I made an offer to help, but he was reluctant to accept it. So I just took a hold of his arm and assisted him up on the porch. He sat down in a chair and invited me to set a spell with him and talk. We told each other about the health problems we had and he said his wife had passed on a few years back. There were no children or other family in the area, but did have an older sister in a nursing home in the eastern part of the state.
As I said, this man was much older and a veteran of World War One, we sat and spoke for some time and he ask if I would stop again when I can. I told him yes and had to get home before my wife came looking for me.
About a week or so later, I found him home again setting on his porch. I sat with him again and we spoke of many things in one’s life. He was a young man when he enlisted in the army and was sent to France. It was toward the end of the war. He wasn’t involved in any battles and as private had to do many things.
He told me he remembers coming home on a troop ship, it entered the harbor at New York city, but the ship docked on the New Jersey side. The troops disembarked in New Jersey and the men were marched some distance away to an army camp. It would take several day before the men could be processed and mustered out of the army.
They were all encouraged visit a social gathering that was set up at the camp to reintroduce them back into society. It was thought that the men had been away from women much too long, and would not remember how to approach or treat them. The women came to the camp as volunteers and there were hundreds of them. They came from all walks of life and ages ranged from forty to around ninety years. All were looking for a companion or a husband. He said, at that time you couldn’t find a brave man anywhere in the group! The bugler was blowing “Charge on his bugle” but no-one moved. They were frozen in position and couldn’t move or they were too scared to move.
As he told the story, he laughed and laughed and said it was the most hilarious sight he had ever seen. The men would stand on one side of the room and the women stood on the other side. They were looking at each other like they were facing the enemy. When the women cross the room to get a man, some men would hide behind other men. Some of these old girls were pretty rank, to be called a women. Some of the men, after seeing what they had been fighting for, decided to re-enlist and keep on fighting. Most men were disappointed and anxious to get home to their families This old guy really enjoyed telling me that story.
Sometime later, I had stopped and was knocking on his door, when a neighbor told me, no one was living there. The man that did live there, had passed on. A story that is repeated, many times over.
Every older person has a few stories to tell, it history. Ask these old people to tell you the story of their lives, they will welcome the chance and appreciate that you took the time to ask them. The words and thoughts that came long before any of us, are important and need to be preserved for the sake of humanity. Some have stories to tell, but no one to tell them to.
Many people tell so many stories, no one will listen to them. A true story is hard to judge, so I try to make them up to entertain people. Like they always said about the Broadway shows, Make them laugh and keep them laughing. Make an older person Happy, talk with them and listen to what they have to say. You will hear things that you will never read in a book.
Ben R. 1-14-09
Thinking back a few years, I came across this older man, older than I am, I was out walking and this man was really unsteady and trying to get up a short flight of stairs, to his porch and into his house. He apparently lived by himself with no one to look after him. I made an offer to help, but he was reluctant to accept it. So I just took a hold of his arm and assisted him up on the porch. He sat down in a chair and invited me to set a spell with him and talk. We told each other about the health problems we had and he said his wife had passed on a few years back. There were no children or other family in the area, but did have an older sister in a nursing home in the eastern part of the state.
As I said, this man was much older and a veteran of World War One, we sat and spoke for some time and he ask if I would stop again when I can. I told him yes and had to get home before my wife came looking for me.
About a week or so later, I found him home again setting on his porch. I sat with him again and we spoke of many things in one’s life. He was a young man when he enlisted in the army and was sent to France. It was toward the end of the war. He wasn’t involved in any battles and as private had to do many things.
He told me he remembers coming home on a troop ship, it entered the harbor at New York city, but the ship docked on the New Jersey side. The troops disembarked in New Jersey and the men were marched some distance away to an army camp. It would take several day before the men could be processed and mustered out of the army.
They were all encouraged visit a social gathering that was set up at the camp to reintroduce them back into society. It was thought that the men had been away from women much too long, and would not remember how to approach or treat them. The women came to the camp as volunteers and there were hundreds of them. They came from all walks of life and ages ranged from forty to around ninety years. All were looking for a companion or a husband. He said, at that time you couldn’t find a brave man anywhere in the group! The bugler was blowing “Charge on his bugle” but no-one moved. They were frozen in position and couldn’t move or they were too scared to move.
As he told the story, he laughed and laughed and said it was the most hilarious sight he had ever seen. The men would stand on one side of the room and the women stood on the other side. They were looking at each other like they were facing the enemy. When the women cross the room to get a man, some men would hide behind other men. Some of these old girls were pretty rank, to be called a women. Some of the men, after seeing what they had been fighting for, decided to re-enlist and keep on fighting. Most men were disappointed and anxious to get home to their families This old guy really enjoyed telling me that story.
Sometime later, I had stopped and was knocking on his door, when a neighbor told me, no one was living there. The man that did live there, had passed on. A story that is repeated, many times over.
Every older person has a few stories to tell, it history. Ask these old people to tell you the story of their lives, they will welcome the chance and appreciate that you took the time to ask them. The words and thoughts that came long before any of us, are important and need to be preserved for the sake of humanity. Some have stories to tell, but no one to tell them to.
Many people tell so many stories, no one will listen to them. A true story is hard to judge, so I try to make them up to entertain people. Like they always said about the Broadway shows, Make them laugh and keep them laughing. Make an older person Happy, talk with them and listen to what they have to say. You will hear things that you will never read in a book.
Ben R. 1-14-09
No comments:
Post a Comment