Interesting conversation

[Bumblebee]

I help out several seniors in my neighborhood and one of them is a young 96 yr old and his 90 something wife.

This guy is quite the character, he and his wife have their full faculties. I've caught him trying to climb a ladder to clean out his eavestroughs a few times and much to the relief of his wife was able to get him off the ladder.

We talked about what is happening in the world and as he and I are both big John Wayne fans he was saying that to hold the people of former generations to the standards of today makes little sense. He said although what they did wouldn't meet the modern "Globe and Mail" test, they were weren't doing anything wrong according to their time. I read lots on John Wayne and he always treated everyone equally regardless and got lots of young actors their start in the business. He was known for always being out with the crew and cast hanging out playing cards and talking.

He was dismayed over the toppling of statues of our founding fathers due to their treatment of indigenous peoples. He said in their time, indigenous people were basically at war with white settlers and would kill them on sight without remorse or a second thought. Many leaders at the time were just like the leaders of today, they made decisions based on public opinion and their advisors.

He said he never met a black person until he was somewhere in Belgium and they just got through a fire fight and his unit ended up with an American black company, he said they got along great and really enjoyed talking together...the fact they were black never entered his mind.

He mentioned perhaps one day down the road, a leader of today will be held accountable for their views of current popular topics but won't be popular in the future...their statues and likenesses will be torn down as well. It will be an endless cycle.

I could sit and listen to him all day as he remembers much of his life and adventures....it will be a very sad day when he and his generation are all gone but sadly this day is coming and sooner rather than later.

 

[SSGT_B]

Sounds like some neat neighbors you have there. Would love to sit down and chew the fat with them. Although I like to hear the old timers talk about their lives.

 

[Bumblebee]

Sounds like some neat neighbors you have there. Would love to sit down and chew the fat with them. Although I like to hear the old timers talk about their lives.

There are a few older people in my neighbourhood and with real cool histories. Two of them I know of were in D Day, and sometimes they talk to me about that-pretty sobering conversations to have. Their wives mentioned to me they never talked to anyone else about that stuff.

This one particular guy and his wife I mentioned earlier are still living on their own and he still drives, he has to get tested each year and always passes. His wife had a big stroke not too long ago but is home again-she is a real fire cracker, I would have loved to have met them when they were younger.

I recall the days going to the Legion and talking to the old vets on our Remembrance Day...these guys had some serious stories they'd only tell a fellow soldier.

 

[SSGT_B]

Growing up there was an old couple a few houses down that I would never see without each other holding hands. Very quiet. Kept to themselves. I joined the military at 18 went off came back a few years later to seen them still. The old man finallly talked to me when he saw me in uniform and thanked me fo serving. That never settled in. I talked with him a few more time before his wife and him passed only for him to tell me his story one day. One that broke me emotionally apart. Him and his wife were in auchwich “sp” together for 2 years separated by wire. The day they were liberated, they and many others were in the gas chambers together. He said he would die in peace knowing she was by his side. After being freed, they never lived a day apart. Both even passing the same day of natural causes. I guess the point of my rambling is that there is so much we can learn from people and about history if we would just open our hearts to hear it.

 

[Bumblebee]

I was just out in the garage and an older neighbour was walking by and stopped in...as he had never been in my garage before he was interested in looking at my bike up close. He said when he was in Korea, they had dispatch bikes-BSA and Norton, he was riding them pretty often as he was an artillery forward observer and shuttled intel back to the HQ.

After he came home, he couldn't even look at a bike as it would bring back a flood of memories of being shot at as the North Koreans tried to take him out.

He liked my bike but thought it wouldn't be very practical for a dispatch bike. I said in Afghanistan certain units had similar bikes as this one (Yamaha R6s) they would use to shuttle intel and do recces with-they were used on roads and could go places quickly and were hard to target. I told him other Spec Ops units had diesel Kawasaki KLRs and used them all the time especially in the mountains.

He and I had a good chat about all things over a bottle of water.

I love talking to these old people.

 

[RedBull]

GOVERNMENT AUCTIONS!! | General Bike Related Topics

I met a guy the other day who bought a Busa for $1200 via gov. auction. He said his buddy has the connections and did the bidding online for him. He said his buddy also bought a zx12 for $1100 and an r1 for $1000. He said other items listed are cars, SUVs, boats, houses, land etc. I've heard of...

www.hayabusa.org

 

[Bumblebee]

GOVERNMENT AUCTIONS!! | General Bike Related Topics

I met a guy the other day who bought a Busa for $1200 via gov. auction. He said his buddy has the connections and did the bidding online for him. He said his buddy also bought a zx12 for $1100 and an r1 for $1000. He said other items listed are cars, SUVs, boats, houses, land etc. I've heard of...

www.hayabusa.org

Yep, like that one...heavy as all get out but goes forever on a tank of fuel and has great torque for going up mountain trails. Add all the equipment needed and it is a big, big machine.