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A Visit to an Old Friend

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posted on Jul, 4 2020 @ 11:31 PM
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The old man had a birthday today.

He had a hard life. The day he was born, his father tried to kill him. Everyone who watched said it was a miracle he survived, but that he wouldn't go far anyway. He was too weak and the deck was stacked against him. He had a tendency to do things his own way and listen to his heart. That heart wasn't perfect, either. He made a lot of mistakes along the way. Sometimes he was even a bully, but more often he was a source of strength to those around him.

He was an inventor. He racked up a long list of inventions that helped mankind everywhere. Those made him wealthy, and he chose to share that wealth with others around him. Many times he found others suffering and used his wealth to ease their pain. Sometimes the people he helped turned their back on him, but he still listened to his own heart and refused to be less than he felt he should be. That only made him more powerful.

When mean people stood up and started bulling others around him, he came to their aid against the bullies. He stood his ground to protect them, and suffered many wounds doing so. Some healed, but some did not.

I looked at him today, and saw sadness in his eyes. Instead of a young, vibrant, strong man, I saw a man struggling against the world. Those he helped had turned against him. Some of his best friends had left him. Others were backing away. Still, he followed his heart and tried to do things his way, the way that had served him and those around him so well for so long. Maybe it was the cancer that caused them to shy away. The cancer that had taken over his body from within, ravaging his very body.

He wasn't lying down or in a hospital. He knew the cancer was spreading, and he knew that if it continued he would die. But still he was standing, with his head held high and a spark of life in his eye. The wrinkles of worry and hardship showed clearly, but that spark was still there. He still held out hope that he would defeat this enemy as surely as he had defeated all others. Perhaps it was that realization that, come what may in the future, he had lived his life by his own rules and had prospered not just himself, but everyone around him. Whatever it was, it still lit a fire in those eyes that could not be extinguished by those who were telling him his days were numbered.

In some ways today felt like a funeral more than a birthday. I knew, as surely as he did, that the outcome of this latest fight is far from certain. I hope he makes it to his next birthday. If he doesn't, I will miss the old man. Everyone else will, too, although I don't think they realize just how much. It's just human nature to not appreciate the things one has until they're gone.

TheRedneck



posted on Jul, 5 2020 @ 12:05 AM
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a reply to: TheRedneck

Beautifully written.

No other comment.



posted on Jul, 5 2020 @ 12:22 AM
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a reply to: TheRedneck

It seems like you both have a long life together some are not as fortunate.



posted on Jul, 5 2020 @ 12:25 AM
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posted on Jul, 5 2020 @ 12:29 AM
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a reply to: TheRedneck

The dark poet in me read that as speaking of yourself in third person.

 


(The previous post was intentionally blank)



posted on Jul, 5 2020 @ 12:52 AM
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a reply to: Liquesence

I do not have cancer. Just to be clear.

TheRedneck



posted on Jul, 5 2020 @ 12:57 AM
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Sounds like a person of great integrity. Very well described Red


+1 more 
posted on Jul, 5 2020 @ 12:59 AM
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A parable? the country..I think.



posted on Jul, 5 2020 @ 01:28 AM
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Happy 4th to you guys.



posted on Jul, 5 2020 @ 01:38 AM
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a reply to: TheRedneck

Whenever I see your moniker I always always always stop to read. I know I will never be disappointed and, as in the case this time, that often I am moved.



posted on Jul, 5 2020 @ 02:07 AM
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superbly done.........a bit concerned that some posters dont understand the message.......but stil well done sir well done im gonna share



posted on Jul, 5 2020 @ 02:21 AM
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a reply to: TheRedneck

When you post and I happen to come across it. I read because you
deliver every time. SnF





posted on Jul, 5 2020 @ 04:00 AM
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a reply to: TheRedneck

I still remember the "last talk" my dad and I had before cancer took him. He was my step dad (my father was evicted from my life when i was a kid still), and we had a really rough go at learning to live together. Mom married him when i was 12, and he was a very rough/tough, hard working oilfield trash. He had his ideas on what a boy should be...i was far too mouthy and strong willed for his tastes.

But we learned to get along, and had a great relationship. Better the older I got. But he felt he had some reckoning to do before he went, and he wanted his chance to have that reckoning with me. I of course wouldn't hear of any of that. All the hard times he and I had together made me who I am. One of my greatest strengths if my ability to resolve conflicts for others and avoid them for myself. I owe that to him, and our interactions.

He was a good man. My mom loved him dearly, and has hurt for the last 20 years that he's been gone. He was almost 50 when mesothelioma took him from us, one month before my moms father died from another cancer.

I know you probably don't want to hear it, but i enjoyed the read. It gave me some bittersweet memories.



posted on Jul, 5 2020 @ 06:47 AM
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a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

Me too, bittersweet indeed.

Your post is more than familiar to me. At 7 the old man left my mother for a foreign affair, around 6 years later the step father moved in. As a young teen I rejected his strict, moral, right wing ways.... little did I know, fast forward 10, 20 years, he taught me all I know and share most of his ideologies. And, he was due to be the best man at my wedding.

Sadly, he didn't make it. I can honestly say he had a good life, a pilot, a genius.... However his last years weren't blessed. He got cancer 9 years before he died, my mother did the looking after, until she got cancer then the roles reversed, it took her faster than it took him.

It amazes me still how resilient he was, in the face of his love dying, he was also dying, but he stayed strong. Then when she passed he cared for her/our family. A real man, not one that runs away when faced with adversity.

And the real b*****ds, my real father for one, seem to live on, healthily, for a long time. But maybe, just maybe THAT is punishment, a longer life means more time to regret running away.



posted on Jul, 5 2020 @ 07:38 AM
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a reply to: TheRedneck

We old men are secretly unhappy. We see dreams gone as much as people we loved.

I think what gives us comfort is have a young person who wants to listen us.

It seems like that's what you did, otherwise you wouldn't know him so well. You received his legacy.



posted on Jul, 5 2020 @ 08:14 AM
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a reply to: TheRedneck

Very......poignant.



posted on Jul, 5 2020 @ 09:33 AM
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a reply to: TheRedneck

This was great Redneck! Truly!

No need to add more.



posted on Jul, 5 2020 @ 09:43 AM
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I hope it’s just a midlife crisis and the cancer isn’t as aggressive as it thinks. Happy 5th of July!



posted on Jul, 5 2020 @ 11:12 AM
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I remember that sadness in my dad's eyes, although with him I felt that it was more because he felt like his job wasn't done yet. Little boys want to be strong and help. Grown men are supposed to protect and support families and other people who need help. Older men can teach what they know. Men serve. It's sad when they get to the point when they realize they can't help anymore. No more tasks to do. It's not a feeling of peace but more like letting others down.

They can look back at their accomplishments and gain some pride and comfort in that. But a man is meant to help, and it's understandable that you're going to be disappointed when you just can't do it anymore, and you'll never know how a lot of things you've worked so hard for and all the things you've been interested in will turn out. So many things left to do.

But maybe that's just the way he was raised and how he raised me.



posted on Jul, 5 2020 @ 11:13 AM
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A tear!



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