To Speak of Things

I was asked to talk to you kids about what I know and what I have seen in my lifetime. I suppose it’s to give you something to think about and maybe help you understand that all of us old folks were your age once.

I come from a mining town in western Pennsylvania. A city called Monongahela. It’s a place with a lot of hillsides and a lot of green trees and good, hardworking people.

I was one of seven children born in a three-room housing unit. Yes, just three rooms. Back when I was small, my folks couldn’t afford to buy a house. My Daddy worked hard in the mines for $5.00 a week back then. And back then that was good money. My Momma worked hard, too. Besides raising four girl and three boys, she hired herself out to do other people’s laundry. She brought in as much as Daddy did, so in a sense, we were living high on the hog. Excuse me, I meant to say we were doing just fine.

The first World War was over when I was born, so I can’t tell you much about that, but when the depression hit; it hit everyone hard. People were scrimping and saving as best they could. Food lines were long, and as a little boy them lines seemed to stretch from one side of the world to the other.

Then Roosevelt came along and kinda just put his hand out to everyone and slowly pulled us out of a bad situation. Things started getting better. Daddy and Momma were back doing what they do, and my older brothers up and join the Army. Three of my sister got married, and the other, well, she passed on. Momma told me she had a bad heart and went back home to God.

Then came World War Two, and I was old enough to enlist, but let me tell you something—war ain’t no joke. I saw more death and destruction in four years I ever care to see again. Lost a lot of good friends, and, two of my brothers. My other brother was injured some, but he made do. It was a heck of a time, kids. My advice is when you get old enough, avoid wars. They just cause a heap of grief.

After the war though, I came back home, found me a sweetheart and six months later we were married. Had me a job in a factory as a mechanic for all the machines used for packing clothing, boots and coats and that to be shipped off to different stores to be sold. Stayed with them close to forty years before I retired.

The wife and me, we had five children and watched them grow up and be something better than what we had. My four sons were too young for Korea, which is a blessing. But when they got old enough they enlisted about two years after President Kennedy was assassinated and that was a terrible day.

None of us knew about until after my daughter’s wedding was over, and that put a damper on the whole thing. But she married a fine man and they moved away to the other side of the country to Oregon. He had himself a Manager’s job for some place called Toys R’ Us, which made no sense to me at the time. But they did right well.

My sons, all but one because he was still too young to enlist; they ended up in Vietnam, and sad to say, they all died there. That’s one reason I tell you kids to avoid wars if you can. War ain’t nothing more than about dying. Because it sure ain’t living.

Seen one thing though I never thought the day would come, but by God, I got to see the first man on the moon. What a sight that was. Of course some people said no such thing happened. Those are the people that hide under a rock when they say stupid stuff like that.

Seen other things too. Saw a wall come down that a lot of folks thought would be there forever. Saw a thing called the Cold War end. To me, all that meant was that James Bond was out of a job. Yep, the day of secret spies and things were at an end, although, truth be told, wouldn’t surprise me none if it’s still going on … just no one will dare admit it is that works for the government here or anyplace else.

Long about 1996, my wife passed away from Breast Cancer. It’s a terrible thing for a woman to have, let me tell you. But back then, the advances in medicines and treatment wasn’t like it is today, but you girls out there, pay attention and when you get old enough, keep getting those checkups.

My one son, who by the way, became a minister, died of heart failure, pretty much the same way my sister did. So trust this, kids, keep after your health. You ain’t got but one body and you better respect it. Ain’t no place to take it to and trade for a new one.

Then came the day of the Twin Towers. Not since way back with Pearl Harbor, which by the way, set America off in joining the war; has there been so much devastation in one place. It was in one of them two buildings my daughter was in. She and her husband both. Some kind of corporate meeting or something like that. On that same day, the Pentagon was damaged, and a bunch of brave people gave up their life in an airplane to save God only knows what from happening. But that day marked a turning point on how things are done today.

I know a lot of this sounds bad, that’s because it is. But there’s a lot of good out there that’s been done. You kids probably have your favorite super-hero’s you read about or when one of them movies come out, but the real heroes are your parents and your teachers.

I say that because your parents take care of you and tend to you’re needs and care for you when your sick, and they give you love. And that’s important. Your teachers guide you through education so when you get older, you can make better choices for yourself. Without any education at all these days, it’s mighty hard to get ahead.

Okay, if you don’t mind, I think I’m going to stop. I know I probably left out a right amount of stuff or just plain forgot. So I’ll leave you with this.

Life ain’t easy. You’ll probably at some point in your life heard about the road you will walk. And that road will have dips, cracks and holes in them. There there for a reason. To make you stumble, even fall. When you do, you get three choices. Forget walking forward and go back to where you started and keep living the way you were, or just sit where you fell and don’t make no more choices for yourself. But the third thing—get up, brush off the dust and dirt and keep moving ahead. When you get to where you’re going, you’ll know right then and there it was the best decision you ever made.