They really are great

In my local church, I have been asked to spotlight a person of my choice.  I ask them about their present interests as well as some of their history. I got to know a person from The Greatest Generation.   This older woman has lived it all.  She had driven an old Tin Lizzy.  She watched her father die, in their home,  from cancer in his late 40s.  I'm sure he died without much pain relief or hospice care.  Thereafter, she supported her family for a while.   She told me she does not remember working for her family.  She just remembers not doing well in school that year!  Her mother reminded her she supported the family.  

As I looked at her scrapbook, her husband recorded how he had never previously been asked to talk about his WWII experiences.  He was uncomfortable doing so, but shared some stories on paper. He had been a prisoner of war and had come home to live a full life.  This gentle, unassuming couple has raised a large family and lives a quiet life.  Their history contains suffering and sacrifice.  Yet, as I spoke about these things with her,  it was brushed over quickly.  What a difference time makes!  I would only be too happy to go over my troubles in financial down times,  childbirth, or illness.  I was so impressed with the resilient spirit she had.  She neither bragged nor moaned about her life.  Too often, I think, I am having a tough go of things and I think all should know.  Or,  I am too happy to let people know about a great race I had or a small success I had.   Probably to the annoyance of some, I am far too sharing of all those details.  I am not advocating a constant stiff-upper lip type of privacy.  But,  I  definitely needed the self-reflection.