{"id":2226,"date":"2014-11-21T10:42:48","date_gmt":"2014-11-21T16:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/?p=2226"},"modified":"2014-11-21T10:43:04","modified_gmt":"2014-11-21T16:43:04","slug":"honor-old-dance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2014\/11\/21\/honor-old-dance\/","title":{"rendered":"The Honor Of The Old Dance"},"content":{"rendered":"

An old man walked into the store. He\u2019s from the same generational crop as my father. Midwestern boy, hard start to life, milking cows before school, got passed around between several farm families, each taking a year or two, to get him through high school. Hitchhiked down here and landed in Lake Charles with four bucks to his name.<\/p>\n

Now he\u2019s here at Eighty-one to buy some stuff to decorate his new subdivision.<\/p>\n

\"UncleP's\"<\/a><\/p>\n

_____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I grew up with these men. Dear God in heaven, what an honor to have seen with my own eyes, that it was possible, to be this honorable\u2026<\/p>\n

America, my goodness, we used to make some fine people\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

_____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We\u2019ve talked twice in person and twice on the phone, which don\u2019t amount to much, except I met him before in all the adults of my childhood. He\u2019s deciding between three sizes, and because of his generation, and the trust that it has earned, I send him off with all three \u2013 without any deposit, without a credit card number on file, not even his phone number \u2013 because I know how these people were raised, and I know that he is honor bound to meet my trust.<\/p>\n

He came back. Just like I knew he would. He hands me some bills for what he\u2019s taken, tried, and now is buying. The money is folded up. I know better than to count it in front of him. When I count it hours later there are seven more dollars than what we agreed upon.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

_____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a dance of honor, and how blessed I am to be a part of the music, maybe the last time I\u2019ll ever dance with my superiors!<\/p>\n

It is upon me to let it be known that he has overpaid, and to offer the seven dollars back\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026at which point, it will go two ways, that he will say no, I appreciate all you have done, and it will be mine\u2026 until I put it in the offering plate, as something Too High for me to keep\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026or the other way, at which he will take the refund of the testing dollars, and know that I have met the test, and he will put it in the offering plate\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

_____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

O how few are left!<\/p>\n

I grew up with these men. They raised me. They made me. They set the height of the ceiling.<\/p>\n

My grandparents raised boys that had no knots in the lumber. When my uncle died they had to find a bigger church to have the service. In my father\u2019s health decline I find that as he loses weight it only reveals the truth, that the power in him wasn\u2019t in his man strength, but in his character strength.<\/p>\n

I cannot speak for generations before my time, but I speak Loud, without apology, the Greatest Generation, where they were good, they were great, and nothing, not their kids, nor grandkids, nothing rates to their standards\u2026<\/p>\n

Folks, we are watching a Miracle dying off…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

_____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most were born poor, but they started life rich in The Good Stuff, and through the long decades they\u2019ve guarded their honor.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t let him go without interviewing him. \u201cI gave away a bunch of weeks of my life, proving worthy of a job. Don\u2019t pay me,\u201d he told prospective employers, \u201cjust let me work and see if it rates up, and if it does, gimme a job, and if it don\u2019t, then shame on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Who would do this anymore! I am in awe that America used to have these people!)<\/p>\n

And here, at the end of that sentence, comes the sharp line that elevates that generation, \u201cAnd I wouldn\u2019t let them pay me for that week, even if I was a keeper\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

America, not long ago, we used to raise people like this! From WWII on, America was the dominant country on this big ole blue planet; one reason was that it was thick with quality people.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

_____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Somebody young please read this. Somebody young please believe this. I don\u2019t want to think that this is about to be Gone from the world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

_____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____\u00a0 \u00a0 _____<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This edition of Uncle P\u2019s Bedtime Stories is brought to you by Eighty-one, where we hope you\u2019re inspired to raise your own bar a little higher; we\u2019ve seen it done \u2013 why can\u2019t we do it too\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Uncle P\u2019s Bedtime Stories are posted three times a week on Eighty-one\u2019s Facebook page, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday evenings, about pillow time. Uncle P can be reached at 81creativity@gmail.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An old man walked into the store. He\u2019s from the same generational crop as my father. Midwestern boy, hard start to life, milking cows before school, got passed around between several farm families, each taking a year or two, to get him through high school. Hitchhiked down here and landed in Lake Charles with four [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[59,538,894],"yoast_head":"\nThe Honor Of The Old Dance - BestOfSwla<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2014\/11\/21\/honor-old-dance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Honor Of The Old Dance - BestOfSwla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An old man walked into the store. He\u2019s from the same generational crop as my father. 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