In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.

Clouder Learns The Meaning

whiteclouderwhiteclouder Member Posts: 10,574 ✭✭✭
edited December 2001 in General Discussion
As a youngster it was all about the candy and Santa's gifts, and being glad it usually fell on a day other than Sunday, which would have meant, like Easter, a trip to church with Mom. Things changed when, as a young man of 21 I married and witnessed the miracle of birth and Christmas's became a time of provision, the pressure of making sure my kids had at least as much as their friends. But Christmas was still seen as a fun time. Last night I had my family here, intact, healthy and in good spirits, presents piled around the tree, the warmth filling my home not entirely provided by Idaho Power Company. But there was a vacant spot. Allen, who for so many years had passed out the presents, was missing and it was very apparent, no one sat in the spot by the book case where he always sat. Allen was somewhere in a far away place and we hadn't heard from him in weeks. And I worried. After the packages had been ravaged and the contents revealed to squeals of pleasure and the occasionally well disguised flicker of disappointment the family split into units again and left, my wife and I alone once more to marvel at our fortune. And then the phone rang and bad connection and all, my Grandson was with us again. I don't remember much about the conversation. It's desolate there and there is no tree or bright lights or presents to proclaim the season. He is there to help a people who needed help. A people I've seen referred to has rag-heads and worse, their dress described as diapers and bed sheets. One tiny fragment of the talk we had kept me awake most of the night. I had asked him what the people looked like and he said, "They dress like the wise men in one of my old story books." I had to hand the phone to his Grandmother.Allen is placing his life at risk for these rag-heads. He is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. Many years ago we contracted a debt when one of these very same rag-heads risked and lost the same bet Allen is making. And it occurred to me, we are a brother hood and what goes around comes around. And the spirit of Christmas is with us without the tree and the lights and the gifts. The phone call was the best present I have ever received on Christmas, a call that said a life I hold dear was still smiling his big silly grin and helping as he has done all his young life. After over sixty years I finally know the meaning of Christmas. We are a universal association; a meeting of minds, not people; a touching of souls, souls without color, creed or religion; an acknowledgment that we are all equal in life's balance. Christmas is about sharing and caring and tolerance. Merry Christmas my friends and a healthy, successful New Year.Clouder..
· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

Sign In or Register to comment.