Life in Geezerville: Musings Edition

I meant to write something on December 7--the day that lives in infamy--but I never got around to it. Sometimes, intentions and reality don't coincide. So--I'm writing now. 

I don't remember that fateful day in Hawaii in 1941 as I was not alive. I do remember a years later aftermath of that day. Sometime in my 8th or 9th or 10th year one of our neighbors who had served in WWII, hung himself. I was little and I did not know what that meant, so I asked my mom. She said "he was so sad he did not want to live anymore. He had shell shock. I guess we should have been nicer to him." Surviving with a burden is real, and we still do not know how to treat it.

Geezers, by definition of our age, are survivors too. We have dealt with way too many stressful, hurtful situations--way too many health issues--and way too many of our friends and loved ones passing away. Non-geezers listen up. We cross the street more slowly than a you. Please don't run into us. We drive slower than the speed limit. Give us a break and when the time is right, pass us up, but please don't give us the finger. Be nice, as my mother used to say.

But I digress...maybe it's more than being nice to survivors...how about being "nice" to one another? I read the daily news and I don't see much "niceness" out there. We are always in some sort of conflict? Does conflict make the world go 'round? 

The first year I taught school, I had a 4th grade class with somewhere between 36 and 42 kids (the number fluctuated throughout the year). They were always sniping at each other and one day I got tired of it and in one "class discussion time" I said "Kids..quit arguing." And something weird happened...they stopped arguing. It seemed like a little miracle...but it worked the rest of the school year. I've said that line to other classes I've taught, and it has worked. The kids knew I did not like it and so they were "nice" to each other. 

I'm meandering in my musings...but what would happen if we were  "nice to each other." To put our differences aside and try to accommodate other points of view without yelling and arguing. Maybe my neighbor would have lived?  If we give folks some "tea and listening" things might be better...and maybe the geezer walking slowly across the street can be appreciated a bit more because that geezer is indeed walking. Remember, we're all in this together.