Mother of Two Heckles 90-Year-Old War Vet

Now I'm not usually one to comment and post on every damn thing that's going on in my life or make public every little thing that inconveniences my life. I do, however, have a lesson that many could possibly obtain from what I'm about to explain. I know I did, even though I was just merely a bystander during the subject matter. I later became "the mediator," I guess you could illustrate, from the situation that took place but was only done so by instinct.

At any rate, I work with the public in the wireless sales business at Buckhannon Walmart and was assisting an elderly gentleman that insisted on getting a new phone with service that actually works best in town. This man is a veteran that served in the Korean War and just told me that he recently turned 90. And with the utmost sincerity, explained how I was honestly shocked that he was that old in exchange for his appearance and character that could have easily passed quite possibly for someone in their 70's.

Anyway, this man begins to speak upon how much times have changed as an elderly individual would. He then goes on to share part of his life during the Korean War, yet not too deep into detail but enough to understand the face of but a mere fraction of what he's had to put up with. That thousand-yard-stare that he seemed to know all too well soon had him in a shamble of emotions. He made it clear to me with the subtle hints of horror, oppression, shame, guilt, tragedy, evil, the persistent internal solitude one bears after the magnitude of such exposure. Had I not mentioned my own time in service (that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of what many honorable service men and women have given up in exchange for their lives and on top of that watching others do the very same and bearing witness to even their suffering as well) he most likely would've never expressed as much as he did in that moments time. Once, he knew I took the same oath of enlistment and served, then did he feel the need to share and vent on what such weight he bears. Just that sense of belonging and camaraderie alone, despite the given distance between our generation gap, gave him the trust and reason to open up to me.

So I continued to listen to him with much appreciation and of my own anticipated interest.

So take in all that I have done to best describe the memorable and compelling encounter I had with this worn down hapless man, and apply it to what I am about to closely describe next.

Furthermore, a family of four strolls in. A husband, a wife, a young boy, and a young girl, this family makes up. A few minutes have passed by since the old gentleman had finished his story about the war in addition to some things he had likened to express concerning a life long-lived with the many inevitable changes that takes place and the sake for future generations.

As you can begin to digest, this gentleman quite frankly had quite a lot on his mind. Who knows, he could've had a wife that passed, maybe finances were striking a nerve, a close pet possibly died, maybe a flat tire, or the decorated illustration of agony and oppression just weighing in on his heart and mind achingly fated for a world riddled with death and suffering. This was the allegorical implication I received from this tired man.

And along with that same cordial implication and earnest energy coming from this man, I would wager that many would feel quite the same had they been placed in the setting I was accompanying.

In continuing... like two candles that would light up a dark room, the spark coming from the two young children (in the family aforementioned) resonated with the old man. He soon had himself occupied by their attention as they did with him. The old man showed a bit more focus to the young boy, as he seemed to be the eldest and mature out of the two. The old vet reaches into his pocket pulling out his wallet as he inquires about the boy's age. "How old are you sonny, maybe ten" the old man questioned. The young boy replied, "no I'm nine but'll soon be ten in August." As the old man sifted through his wallet, he ironically pulled out the only ten dollar bill he had. "Nooo, you have to be at least ten," he said as he joked with the boy for the old man was delighted he had a spare ten bucks in his wallet and the boy was amusingly turning ten in August. "Ten years ten bucks. Nice coincidence," I muttered in my head.

And yes, that's exactly what it was- just a simple small act of courtesy. A kind gesture from the old man. He also makes sure to tell the young boy to split it with his little sister for the sake of her not feeling left out.

What takes place next offers some ambiguity that comes from the mother concerning the altercation between the old man and the two young children. What drove her to act in such an ill-manner is unknown to me. So her reaction could've stemmed from just about anything. Her response to the situation was a sassy and off-putting "thank you but I have my own money." Like what?  lol. The mother continues to repeat this at least two more times. Some more verbal exchanges continue between the mother and the old man as I was still in the process of preparing his new phone and phone service not entirely capturing all the exchange between the two. However, this brings confusion to the old man and to the few individuals that were present at this moment including the rest of the family.

After the whole thing I'm thinking in response to the little exchange of words that I was able to receive from the young naïve mother, "well good for you, but this is for the kids." As the evening progresses, I'm still thinking to myself what the reasons were for the young mother's selfish banter. She eventually came to her senses realizing how foolish she was being as she was later occupying her time with the laptop displays with the kids.

Now, I know this may not be as exciting of a story coming from the length I took to type this out lol. But this concludes me to think, as it should others, about a few things.

So for myself, this small incident or mere miscommunication even, that took place during my work, presents itself a few things to bear in mind and what led me here in the first place really is:

1. The seemingly subtle, and/or noticeable, differentiation of mentality with each generation of age and how socialism can easily govern our lives and mindset subliminally. Obviously, this being an environmental issue and the abundant access of information we are able to receive on such a quick and vast level like television, news outlets, social media, mostly any type of digital networking, etc. ( I say this for the sake of those wrongfully placed in such situations. What I'm trying to get at is, nowadays many with this new age mentality or possibly you could say the left-winged social justice mindset that aggravatingly pollutes our society could easily become openly offended by the situation I just explained while at my workplace and them stating "how this old man was being a creep or a pervert" when no such thing was taking place. It's like the examples being made in today's societal standards are doing a complete turn around. Just an example, but for one to think this way where an old man can't simply display an act of kindness to a child for the sake of being labelled as creepy etc. is disgraceful in itself. Take someone with this very mentality, yet, they also think it's alright for half naked grown men in "drag attire" and (personally horrendous use of makeup) flaunting there bodies and rear to young children is some how okay or normal or a progressive way to edify young minds???

Now of course I understand there are tons of sick people with sick intentions and have been many many cases of such behavior. This old man I took appreciation in helping had even made a clear point to these children about encountering strangers and the possible dangers of it so on and so forth. But not every old man is a creep that the young generation likes to toss around kind of like how they like to toss around their own half naked bodies on social media themselves. Yeah strange world I know. As if they aren't being the creeps lol.

I think this courteous elderly veteran was trying to contribute for hopes of a better future in the next generations to come. Or ya know, that's just how some people simply show acts of kindness with some courteous gesture. I mean you've got a war torn veteran that has witnessed the unspeakable, possibly for some, done things unspeakable yet still trying to find some light from the dark if that's as simple as donating love and kindness with money to a child. Some people seem like they do not possess the capacity of thought to reach a deeper or further meaning than what is only being shown in front of them or projecting their ill-biased and pre-meditated views on any given subject.

Idk I was only able to type out one point for I have more but rather not continue for the sake of the already given lengthiness of this post lol. This is why I don't do the social media posting often because then almost every post would be a dang book 

Anyway, if you got through reading this thank you lol. Was just something weighing heavy on my heart.