I talked to a man today

Huntindave McCann

Huntindave McCann

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I did not write this, but thought it was worth sharing.
*Borrowed, copied and pasted* [strike][/strike]
I hope and pray that EVERYONE takes the time to read this?.. and LISTEN to every word?.. It is WELL worth the couple of minutes?..

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 out with single moms who?s 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 rear.
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.
*Borrowed, copied and pasted*
 
Children learn their values from the parents... secondarily from their peers. Most generations hold those values they have accumulated into their late teens as the core of their adult Until they are in their late twenties, that portion of their brains that assesses personal risk and danger remains not fully developed, slightly sooner for females than males.. When you decry the poorly developed values among youth, look hard in the mirror. The face you see staring back at you is the responsible party.
 
I'm currently making 1/30 scale copies of the McPherson, Herbst and Harman farms for a gentlemen who is constructing a diorama that focuses on the early morning fighting on Day 1 at Gettysburg, Pa. As a consequence of this effort, I have read through a number of accounts of the early morning fighting. i am struck by the numerous accounts of courage, and perseverance displayed by both sides during the initial clashes that defined the future fabric of this country. IF you desire to learn a lesson in sacrifice, courage, and perseverance displayed by our ancestors, the Civil War provides excellent source material to mirror against our current national challenges.


http://npshistory.com/series/symposia/gettysburg_seminars/10/essay5.pdf
 
Huntindave McCann said:
I did not write this, but thought it was worth sharing.
*Borrowed, copied and pasted*
...

Today's kids don't know sacrifice.
...

None of them deserve the sacrifices their granddads made.
...

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.

...

*Borrowed, copied and pasted
Click to expand...

You know, I am of two minds on this. Some of it I agree with, to a point. Some of it I call bullshit on.

I would absolutely agree there is a great deal to learn from our older generations. There is a great deal to respect about them and it is a shame that seems to have been lost. So that I certainly agree with.

However, I would imagine that I am of one of the generations that the old guy in this story is talking about. As well as the younger generations that follow me. I also will freely admit that there are many of my peers that I think GET OVER YOURSELVES ALREADY!!! THERE IS MORE OUT THERE IN THIS WORLD THAN YOU!

But to say that we don't understand the kinds of sacrifices or that we don't deserve the sacrifices that were made? Pretty high and mighty talking if you ask me.

I would say that I understand quite well the sacrifices that so many families endured when their men-folk were sent off to war. In my living memory I have known my brother, father, uncles, grandfather, great uncles and great grand fathers that went to war, spanning all of the wars from WWI through the current war in Afghanistan (no I am obviously not that old but I have known and loved men who spanned all of those decades and have seen how the different wars had affected them). I understand what it is like growing up watching your dad and uncles be deployed or moved around the country and me and my brother can't go. I understand the waiting to hear from my dad for when he would hopefully have a port call somewhere. I understand the terror of watching your brother get sent off to war and wondering if he will come back. So what if we had the internet to converse on? Being able to converse on it meant that HE had to have a working internet connection, which wasn't often, or if he was even ALLOWED to have contact with anyone back home, which his last deployment didn't allow. Even in today's wars, we can be left wondering when those we love will come home and if the last letter we receive will be after someone lets us know he died.

I also understand sacrifices that come with growing up with a single mother as head of our house hold. Our father certainly provided more than was required but for several years we still needed food stamps to get by. I understood rationing because I learned that there may be a great many things you might want, but only a few things you could afford that you actually needed. I understood early on that people could be quite cruel when the best you could afford was salvation army wear and the schools free lunches. I understood that sometimes a sacrifice has to be made when your mother recognizes she needs to move us all back to live with her parents, no matter how stressful or uncomfortable it is for all involved, so that our little family can survive. I understand having to dip into your own meager savings account to help supplement the grocery fund, hoping that your mother doesn't find out because you're afraid it will upset her and make her feel like she can't provide for her kids. I learned the value of growing a garden, even if it was just a few plants, because then that money could be spent on other food stuffs. I saw that my mom did the best she could, with what she had and she did quite well with us with what she had. While resources were plentiful for many, that wasn't the case for our family.

The way I grew up, though in a time of relative peace and plenty, wasn't that far off from what the old man describes. What more would someone in my situation have to do to DESERVE the sacrifices of their uncles, grandfathers and great grandfathers? What more would someone have to sacrifice? Would my brother have to die in war for his family or for me to be considered "deserving"?

I think statements made like that, though understandable to me in some ways, are as narrowminded as my peers who refuse to see beyond their own little microcosms.

Are there people out there that don't understand those levels of sacrifice that was endured by the majority of people in the early and mid 1900's? Absolutely. There are tons of people out there like that and many often make themselves known on many social platforms. There are also tons of people out there like me who do understand that kind of sacrifice and we go about our lives quietly for the most part. I would imagine that people like me, look at the level of ignorance in the other group first in disgust and then perhaps as we mature in pity or understanding: how can someone KNOW that kind of sacrifice if they have never lived it? They didn't have to endure like others had to.

Those people that have never lived with those kinds of sacrifices are fortunate. I could not fathom growing up, KNOWING that I had a mom and a dad to come home to every night and KNOWING that I had nothing to worry about in my wants or needs. I was quite envious of the kids that showed up to school in new jeans with lunches that had chips and cookies and juice boxes and sandwiches while I wore jeans that who knows how many other people before me wore and I was at the mercy of the school cafeteria free lunch program. So those of my peers were very fortunate. However, much later in life I learned that I was very fortunate too because I learned lessons very early that many of my peers either still struggle to learn or still have not learned. They are fortunate but ignorant. Does that ignorance make them unworthy? I suppose that depends on what they choose to do when they are presented with opportunities to do something about their ignorance....

Painting everyone in these younger generations as unworthy and saying that we don't understand what true sacrifice really is....well that is as narrow minded as saying all old people are hateful, cantankerous scrooges. Might be true for many old people....but certainly not many others....

Dani
 
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Dani, very well stated!

These are two scenes from Gettysburg. The movie was largely based on Michael Shaara's, "The Killer Angels".

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=killrain+speech+on+the+value+of+a+man+from+the+KIller+Angels&&view=detail&mid=0B23CFE9443C6BF981EC0B23CFE9443C6BF981EC&rvsmid=C42F3F9CEBE4AD04C551C42F3F9CEBE4AD04C551&FORM=VDQVAP




https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=killrain+speech+on+the+value+of+a+man+from+the+KIller+Angels&docid=608045262858947614&mid=C42F3F9CEBE4AD04C551C42F3F9CEBE4AD04C551&view=detail&FORM=VIRE


Chamberlain went on to be wounded several times, surviving to the end of the war. He was designated to be the commander of the units that were present at Appomattox Court House to receive the Confederate Army's surrender.

This is a lengthy read, but is an accurate depiction of a very significant event that preceded Lincoln's murder, significantly altering the course of reparation and reclamation in the post-war years.

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/last-salute-army-northern-virginia
 
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