Every morning I go for my walk there is an older man who is
walking his two dogs. Both bark and then one continues to growl and mumble. He
attempts to shush them, but fails. It is a halfhearted attempt and that is
fine. I have no intention of attacking him or his little mongrels. I pass on
one side of the street, he on the other. I smile, he never does. This has been going on for a few months and
so today I looked over at him and said “you would think they would be used to
seeing me every day by now.” He stops and says “what?” I repeat myself smiling the
entire time and he just starts to walk off as I am speaking. He throws a “humph”
back at me as he meanders away. One word grumpy man. RUDE!!!! No two words. Disrespectful
and rude. What world did he grow old in where being rude and having no respect
was acceptable? What happened to him in his life?
Is this the world we live in, where rude and disrespect are
the normal and being nice, kind and polite are so rare they are shocking? Where
gestures with good intentions are twisted into malicious intent and the
do-gooder is left standing wondering what happened? How could my comment of
concern gone so wrong?
On a less controversial note….
I had a great grand uncle named John White Easley who was a
Physician and moved to Pearisburg Virginia during the 1850s to live. On May 23 1861,
1033 votes were cast by residents in favor of the ratification of the Ordinance
of Secession. When the Civil War broke out he was a Physician for the
Confederate Army maintaining his Practice in Pearisburg.
On May 10 1862 the 23rd Ohio Regiment was in
Pearisburg pushing south through Virginia where a battle was fought to save the
Virginia and Tennessee Railroad which was a much needed supply route for the
Confederate Army.
A young Lt. Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes who was in command, was
wounded when a small piece of shrapnel was lodged in his knee during what has
been called the Pearisburg Skirmish. Dr. John Easley was called for to treat
his injury. This Lt. Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes is the same Rutherford B.
Hayes who became the 19th president of the United States.
Who was also there in Pearisburg with Uncle John and future
President Hayes? A young Union Commissary sergeant named William McKinley who
would become the 25th President of the United States.
I don’t want to leave you with a happy ending so, as they, the 23rd Ohio Regiment, were leaving
town they burned down the Pearisburg Presbyterian Church which had served as
the Regiment Commissary for a week and had been stock-piled with grains,
vegetables, sugar and fruits.
When Union Col. Rutherford B. Hayes occupied Pearisburg, VA for a week in the spring on 1862, his regimental band often played "Dixie", to the delight of local residents.
Today is double coffee point day so I got to go… Cheers!!!!
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