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Originally Posted by JimW
Thanks W&G. I don't share that story much. It's kind of a personal thing. The young man hadn't really had much chance to experienced life. If anything he was just out of high school. I often think what are the chances of such a meeting? Why did he pick me out of all the people in town he could've talked to, or his friends for that matter? I was probably one of the last few hometown people he had talked to before being shipped out. It has had a big impact on my life that much, I know for certain.
Reminds me of another story. We lived on one of the main traveled streets in town so, I saw alot of people. The train station was maybe 6 blocks away. Every day a 50ish woman would walk by our house twice a day, going and coming. I mean sunday through saturday! She didn't miss a day until one day when, I was about ten. Curious, I finally asked my mom who she was and why every day and why did she stop walking by? Apparently the woman's husband was MIA during WWII. Unable to accept the fact he wasn't coming home, she would walk down to the train station and wait for him all day, every day for the previous 23-24yrs. She had passed away was why she stopped coming by. Lonelyness had driven her to alcohol and the drinking finally caught up with her. I guess that one taught me that not all casualties of war are on the battlefield.
Doc, all of my ancestors except the native american side were ministers. They came from England in 1610 to settle here and remained preachers and farmers thru history. One side of my family was forced to leave Scottland or suffer the conciquences of being Protestant in a Catholic country. Alot of thier beliefs of the bible have been passed down and, I fully agree with everything you're saying. However, I think over the centuries people have strayed so far away from the bible's true meanings to accomedate themselves. But, looking at it from a different angle history proves even then people were unable to run thier lives or countries without torturing some one. I wish, I had an answer but, I don't. All, I can be certain of is, I've lived my life to be fair and respectful of people even tho most of the time, I usually come up on the short end but, I don't mind really and don't even get mad nore judgemental. Just smile and go on. I have a good wife, good kids and some extra toys. How much more does a man need? I have more than most so, I'm lucky and happy in the sense that, I've been able to live my life in a decent and honest manner. The One Judge that really matters will have the final say. Ok now, I'm probably ranting.
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