Apology Accepted

I lost a old friend the other day. Old in that he was in his 80's, not that we had been friends forever. Oscar was a fellow who lived with his wife on my mail route. You get to know a lot of people over the years just by delivering their mail. Some you get to know better than others. Oscar was one of those. Over the years I'd learned that Oscar joined the Army the day after he graduated high school in 1943. He ended up at Normandy about a week after D Day in 1944. He ended up losing an eye in battle and returned home. As we both loved fishing, I always hoped to get to go sometime with him. Sadly, that never happened.

The last time I saw him was a couple of weeks ago, when I just stopped to see how he and his wife were doing. Oscar was in the kitchen, cleaning a mess of bluegills that he had caught earlier that day. He apologized to me for not having the sidewalk cleared of the inch of snow that had fallen earlier that day while he was out fishing. I told him "no problem" and ended my visit and went on my way, to the next stop on my route, where two young guys in there teens along with their Uncle reside. The sidewalk there is never shoveled, a reflection in part as to the type of guys who live there. To bad they aren't more like their neighbor Oscar. I'll miss him...a lot.

Perspective?

Yesterday while delivering mail, I had a small padded envelope that required the addressee's signature. I arrived at her address, knocked on her door, and informed her that I needed her to sign for a piece of mail. She wondered what it might be that required her John Hancock and I informed her it was from a local casino. With that information now disclosed, she became elated, as it I now learned that she had lost her wallet on a recent gambling trip. I told her that I hoped her wallet contents had remained intact. Her response left me amused and confounded as well. She was concerned that someone may have taken the booklet of "forever stamps" she had just purchased out of her wallet.

Hmmm, let me get this straight. You go to the casino and are willing to LOSE money, money that you probably can NOT afford to lose. You end up losing your wallet and upon it's safe return, your first concern is as to the possible disappearance of a book of stamps, retail value $8.80?

Such is the mindset, I'm afraid, of far too many folks who go to the casinos on a regular basis. File this one under "Sad but True" I guess.