Sunday, August 12, 2001
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Sunday, August 12, 2001 |
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Are you a geezer? By DR. KNOX HERNDON
I received an e-mail from my good friend Dave Smith which I will share here. The author is unknown. "Geezers - slang for old men - are easy to spot. At sporting events, during the playing of the national anthem, they hold their caps over their hearts and sing without embarrassment. They know the words and believe in them. Many remember World War I, the Depression, World War II, Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Normandy and Hitler. All remember the atomic age, the Korean War, The Cold War, the jet age and the moon landing, not to mention Vietnam. If you bump into a geezer on the sidewalk, he'll apologize; pass a geezer on the street, he'll nod, or tip his cap to a lady. Geezers trust strangers and are courtly to women. They hold the door for the next person and always, when walking, make sure the lady is on the inside for protection. Geezers get embarrassed if someone curses in front of women and children and they don't like violence and filth on TV and in movies and on the Internet. Geezers have moral courage. Geezers seldom brag unless it's about the grandchildren in Little League or music recitals. It's the geezers who know our great country is protected, not by politicians or police, but by the young men and women in the military serving their country in foreign lands, just as they did, without a thought except to do a good job, the best you can, and to get home to loved ones. This country needs geezers with their decent values and common sense. We need them now more than ever. Sadly, however, is the realization that as this generation of geezers passes on, there doesn't appear to be anyone to take their place." Although I haven't reached the "old geezer" category and plan never to do so, I thank God for geezers. And, yes, I'm proud to be of the geezer generation, gaining in seniority! Just maybe some of the geezer will rub off on the younger generation. "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it." What a novel idea! The Rev. Dr. Knox Herndon is the pastor of His House Community Church (SBC) and a former Army chaplain. The church is just below Senoia on Ga. Highway 85, a mile past Ga. Highway 16 on the right just below the fire station. Visitors welcome. Church office and prayer line 770-719-2365; e-mail KHERN2365@aol.com.
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