WANDERING OF THE MIND... I dont know about other people...but when I get on my riding mower and go sort of on auto-pilot for an hour or so..my mind jumps from first one thing to another. As I mowed today, for some reason I found myself thinking about things from many a year ago..back when I was a relatively new guy at the Hercules plant. Except for maybe a dozen other guys that were within 10 years of me...most everyone else there was in their late 40s or early 50s...most of them veterans of WWII. Today...one particular little fella named Joe Lynn occupied a spot in my thoughts. He was a short..squarely built little guy who seemed to be perpetually happy. I can still see him now..sitting there at one of the tables in the lunch room playing pitch...white powder uniform with one of those white powder hats with the bill turned up...and one of those lunch coupon books wedged between his head and that hat..hanging behind his ear..laughing and cutting up like some kid! I never saw Joe that he wasnt smiling or laughing...which is remarkable for someone who spent his whole working life on a dynamite line. Those who have been there know what I mean. Working in powder takes a toll.. Ive expressed it many times..but it cant be said too often what a great generation of people it was who fought and won that war...and then came home to work and participate in the greatest period of prosperity this country has ever known. Maybe guys like Joe and other older guys I worked with seemed so happy and content...because they had endured real hardship as young men...and had a better perspective than a lot of us do today...who never quite seem to achieve happiness.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 21:25:55 +0000
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