Lincoln – Perhaps many people have read the anecdote below (in italics). Or only a few. It came to me as an attachment in an email from an old friend in rural Nebraska, who thought it was "so very true" that I should see it.
I don't know what to make of it. I wrote back inquiring about its source, to no avail. Who would write such a piece, playing effectively on emotion and nostalgia, but implying those who now wear masks and use hand sanitizers are "sissies" and not "real men"?
The author knows his WWII and surely would have made a good script writer for Tokyo Rose or Axis Sally. It's too idiomatic to have been written by a contemporary Boris, I think, although our foreign adversaries would like to see death and divisiveness undermine America.
This line suggests a possible source: "We didn't attack our President..."
Is this a sick campaign document? It apparently was shared by "neighbors" during the Nebraska primary. That's my best guess unless someone has a better explanation.
The circulated attachment:
I talked with a man today, an 80+ year old man. I asked him if there was anything I can get him while this Coronavirus scare was gripping America.
He simply smiled, looked away and said: "Let me tell you what I need! I need to believe, at some point, this country my generation fought for ... I need to believe this nation that we handed safely to our children and their children ...
I need to know this generation will quit being a bunch of sissies .. that they respect what they've been given ... that they've earned what others sacrificed for."
I wasn't sure where the conversation was going or if it was going anywhere at all. So, I sat there, quietly listening.
"You know, I was a little boy during WWII. Those were scary days. We didn't know if we were going to be speaking English, German or Japanese at the end of the war. There was no certainty, no guarantees like Americans enjoy today.
And no home went without sacrifice or loss. Every house, up and down every street, had someone in harm's way. Maybe their Daddy was a soldier, maybe their son was a sailor, maybe it was an uncle. Sometimes it was the whole damn family ... fathers, sons, uncles ...
Having someone, you love, sent off 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. We didn'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 getting her son's letters the same day Dad was comforting her over their child's death.
And we sacrificed. You couldn't buy things. Everything was rationed. You were only allowed so much milk per month, only so much bread, toilet paper. EVERYTHING was restricted for the war effort. And what you weren't using, what you didn't need, things you threw away, they were saved and sorted for the war effort. My generation was the original recycling movement in America.
And we had viruses back then ... serious viruses. Things like polio, measles, and such. It was nothing to walk to school and pass a house or two that was quarantined. We didn't shut down 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. We didn't attack our President, we came together. We rallied around the flag for the war. Thick or thin, we were in it to win. And we would lose more boys in an hour 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 know sacrifice. They think a sacrifice is not having coverage on their phone while they freely drive across the country. Today's kids are selfish and spoiled. In my generation, we looked out for our elders. We helped out with single moms whose husbands were either at war or dead from war. Today's kids rush the store, buying everything they can ... no concern for anyone but themselves. It's shameful the way Americans behave these days. None of them deserve the sacrifices their granddads made.
So, no I don't need anything. I appreciate your offer but, I know I've been through worse things than this virus. But maybe I should be asking you, what can I do to help you? Do you have enough pop to get through this, enough steak? Will you be able to survive with 113 channels on your tv?"
I smiled, fighting back a tear of my own ... now humbled by a man in his 80's. All I could do was thank him for the history lesson, leave my number for emergency and leave with my ego firmly tucked in my rear.
I talked to a man today. A real man. An American man from an era long gone and forgotten. We will never understand the sacrifices. We will never fully earn their sacrifices. But we should work harder to learn about them ... learn from them ... to respect them.
And, whatever you do, don't wear a mask! It would be nice if the author stepped forward and explained who wrote this and why.
Post script: I've discovered a person named Pat Miles put his name on this, and simultaneously posted an endorsement of Trump. That confirms my guess as to the why of it. Perhaps he is paid to sow division so as to help his candidate. I am of the generation that remembers polio, but that does not lead me in any way to disparage people who now wear masks to avoid spreading coronavirus. I remember saving metal and string, but that only makes me applaud current recycling programs, not sneer at them. And I fought in a war myself, by the way, seven times in a combat zone. Each generation has its own challenges, its own failings and successes. You should be ashamed of yourself for trying to divide us, Pat Miles, if you are the author.
I talked with a man today, an 80+ year old man. I asked him if there was anything I can get him while this Coronavirus scare was gripping America.
He simply smiled, looked away and said: "Let me tell you what I need! I need to believe, at some point, this country my generation fought for ... I need to believe this nation that we handed safely to our children and their children ...
I need to know this generation will quit being a bunch of sissies .. that they respect what they've been given ... that they've earned what others sacrificed for."
I wasn't sure where the conversation was going or if it was going anywhere at all. So, I sat there, quietly listening.
"You know, I was a little boy during WWII. Those were scary days. We didn't know if we were going to be speaking English, German or Japanese at the end of the war. There was no certainty, no guarantees like Americans enjoy today.
And no home went without sacrifice or loss. Every house, up and down every street, had someone in harm's way. Maybe their Daddy was a soldier, maybe their son was a sailor, maybe it was an uncle. Sometimes it was the whole damn family ... fathers, sons, uncles ...
Having someone, you love, sent off 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. We didn'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 getting her son's letters the same day Dad was comforting her over their child's death.
And we sacrificed. You couldn't buy things. Everything was rationed. You were only allowed so much milk per month, only so much bread, toilet paper. EVERYTHING was restricted for the war effort. And what you weren't using, what you didn't need, things you threw away, they were saved and sorted for the war effort. My generation was the original recycling movement in America.
And we had viruses back then ... serious viruses. Things like polio, measles, and such. It was nothing to walk to school and pass a house or two that was quarantined. We didn't shut down 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. We didn't attack our President, we came together. We rallied around the flag for the war. Thick or thin, we were in it to win. And we would lose more boys in an hour 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 know sacrifice. They think a sacrifice is not having coverage on their phone while they freely drive across the country. Today's kids are selfish and spoiled. In my generation, we looked out for our elders. We helped out with single moms whose husbands were either at war or dead from war. Today's kids rush the store, buying everything they can ... no concern for anyone but themselves. It's shameful the way Americans behave these days. None of them deserve the sacrifices their granddads made.
So, no I don't need anything. I appreciate your offer but, I know I've been through worse things than this virus. But maybe I should be asking you, what can I do to help you? Do you have enough pop to get through this, enough steak? Will you be able to survive with 113 channels on your tv?"
I smiled, fighting back a tear of my own ... now humbled by a man in his 80's. All I could do was thank him for the history lesson, leave my number for emergency and leave with my ego firmly tucked in my rear.
I talked to a man today. A real man. An American man from an era long gone and forgotten. We will never understand the sacrifices. We will never fully earn their sacrifices. But we should work harder to learn about them ... learn from them ... to respect them.
And, whatever you do, don't wear a mask! It would be nice if the author stepped forward and explained who wrote this and why.
Post script: I've discovered a person named Pat Miles put his name on this, and simultaneously posted an endorsement of Trump. That confirms my guess as to the why of it. Perhaps he is paid to sow division so as to help his candidate. I am of the generation that remembers polio, but that does not lead me in any way to disparage people who now wear masks to avoid spreading coronavirus. I remember saving metal and string, but that only makes me applaud current recycling programs, not sneer at them. And I fought in a war myself, by the way, seven times in a combat zone. Each generation has its own challenges, its own failings and successes. You should be ashamed of yourself for trying to divide us, Pat Miles, if you are the author.
