The more histories I read of the modern era since 1900, the more I realize how blessed I was to have such close relationships with each of my grandparents. I learned from them.
My grandmother began to lose physical functi0ns, control of her hands and feet, and balance in the late 1990's. It was only a few years after she was diagnosed with ALS that she lost all functions of her body including her ability to breathe. Her last breath to me and my wife was "Whatever you do, have fun."
My other grandmother conveyed to me how happy she was that I completed a theological education. However, she still prayed for me because I did not do so at a Catholic institution, the seat of Christ which she believed would save the world. She was a war time nurse, wife to a WWII Navy CB who served in Japan, and mother to two living sons. She also suffered numerous miscarriages. Why? It was due to the RH factor in her blood and that of my grandfather. Faithful to the Catholic Church, she persevered. She stood by her husband's bedside as he suffered through Alzheimer's.
My step-father's mother helped his WWI vet father build his childhood home and never complained about her lot in life. She was peaceful, gracious, and kind to every human being she ever met – ever. She grew up a faithful Lutheran and embodied the Protestant work ethic that Max Weber wrote about. She never gave up, fought hard, and was self-less even when the world around her grew selfish and dis-jointed.
I was blessed to be nurtured at various stages of my life from three women I would call saints. They were my heroes. They are my heroes. I will see them again and even more than Jesus, I want them to be proud of me and my choices in life. For it is not the success the world tell you that you l, it is the choices that you have made to get where ytou are that count. These women are what I go back to when things seem to get hard for me. The truth is that life will never be as hard for me as for them, and it is because of them that this is so. We are an entire generation of post-War peoples who rest on the efforts of our grandparents. The golden age is dying, but I do not want them to. I want my kids to know what they did for the world. They saved it. They did the one thing that all parents want to give their children – a chance of a better life than they had.
God bless them. I love them. And you should love them too. Find any Golden Ager, and thank them for the sacrifices they made in order to make to lives better today. I want to see more people who serve in the military in uniform as they did. We are not aware of what work they are doing on our behalf. It does not matter if you are a pacifist. They are doing what they are called to do. Thank them. Please, thank them. And respect the ground they walk on, for that ground is something most of us would no doubt be unwilling to protect with as much resolve. My grandmothers knew it but neither boasted nor complained. I am grateful that I know it too.
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