Nice story
Not to trivialise, but let’s put it into perspective.
Italked to a man today:
I talked with a man today, an80+ year old. I asked him if there was anything he needed while thisCorona virus scare was gripping Australia .
He simply smiled, looked awayand said:
"Let me tell you what Ineed! I need to believe this is still the country my generation fought for... Ineed to believe this is still the nation we handed safely to our children andtheir children...
I need to know this generationwill quit being a bunch of sissies...that they respect what they've beengiven...that they've earned what others sacrificed for."
I wasn't sure where theconversation was going, or if it was going anywhere at all. So, I sat there,quietly listening.
"You know, I was a littleboy during WWII. Those were scary days. We didn't know if we were going to bespeaking English, German or Japanese at the end of the war. There was nocertainty, no guarantees like Australians enjoy today.
And no home went withoutsacrifice or loss. Every house, up and down every street, had someone in harm'sway. Maybe their Daddy was a soldier, maybe their son was a sailor, maybe itwas an uncle. Sometimes it was the whole damn family...fathers, sons, uncles...
Having someone, you love, sentoff 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. Wedidn'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 gettingher son's letters the same day Dad was comforting her over their child's death.
And we sacrificed. You couldn'tbuy things. Everything was rationed. You were only allowed so much milk permonth, only so much bread, toilet paper. EVERYTHING was restricted for the wareffort. And what you weren't using, what you didn't need, things you threwaway, they were saved and sorted for the war effort. My generation was theoriginal recycling movement in Australia .
And we had viruses backthen...serious viruses. Things like polio, measles, and such. It was nothing towalk to school and pass a house or two that was quarantined. We didn't shutdown 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. Wedidn't attack our Government , we came together. We rallied around the flag forthe war. Thick or thin, we were in it to win. And we would lose more boys in anhour 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 knowsacrifice. They think a sacrifice is not having coverage on their phone whilethey freely drive across the country. Today's kids are selfish and spoiled. Inmy generation, we looked out for our elders. We helped out with single momswho's husbands were either at war or dead from war. Today's kids rush thestore, buying everything they can...no concern for anyone but themselves. It'sshameful the way Australians behave these days. None of them deserve thesacrifices their granddads made.
So, no I don't need anything. Iappreciate your offer but, I know I've been through worse things than thisvirus. But maybe I should be asking you, what can I do to help you? Do you haveenough pop to get through this, enough steak? Will you be able to survive with60 channels on your tv?"
I smiled, fighting back a tearof my own...now humbled by a man in his 80's. All I could do was thank him forthe history lesson, leave my number for emergency and leave with my ego firmlytucked in my rear.
I talked to a man today. A realman. An Australian man from an era long gone and forgotten. We will neverunderstand the sacrifices. We will never fully earn their sacrifices. But weshould work harder to learn about them..learn from them...to respect them.”
....there is so much we forget and ignore and need to bring back into our lives......
