“We Have Many Times More Empty Houses And Apartments Than We Do Homeless People, But America Can’t

When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home in an Australian country town, it was believed that he had nothing left of any value.

Later, when the nurses were going through his meagre possessions, they found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital.

One nurse took her copy to Melbourne .. The old man's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas editions of magazines around the country and appearing in mags for Mental Health. A slide presentation has also been made based on his simple, but eloquent, poem.

And this old man, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this 'anonymous' poem winging across the Internet.

Cranky Old Man.....

What do you see nurses? . . .. . .What do you see?

What are you thinking .. . when you're looking at me?

A cranky old man, . . . . . .not very wise,

Uncertain of habit .. . . . . . . .. with faraway eyes?

Who dribbles his food .. . ... . . and makes no reply.

When you say in a loud voice . .'I do wish you'd try!'

Who seems not to notice . . .the things that you do.

And forever is losing . . . . . .. . . A sock or shoe?

Who, resisting or not . . . ... lets you do as you will,

With bathing and feeding . . . .The long day to fill?

Is that what you're thinking?. .Is that what you see?

Then open your eyes, nurse .you're not looking at me.

I'll tell you who I am . . . . .. As I sit here so still,

As I do at your bidding, .. . . . as I eat at your will.

I'm a small child of Ten . .with a father and mother,

Brothers and sisters .. . . .. . who love one another

A young boy of Sixteen . . . .. with wings on his feet

Dreaming that soon now . . .. . . a lover he'll meet.

A groom soon at Twenty . . . ..my heart gives a leap.

Remembering, the vows .. .. .that I promised to keep.

At Twenty-Five, now . . . . .I have young of my own.

Who need me to guide . . . And a secure happy home.

A man of Thirty . .. . . . . My young now grown fast,

Bound to each other . . .. With ties that should last.

At Forty, my young sons .. .have grown and are gone,

But my woman is beside me . . to see I don't mourn.

At Fifty, once more, .. ...Babies play 'round my knee,

Again, we know children . . . . My loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me . . . . My wife is now dead.

I look at the future ... . . . . I shudder with dread.

For my young are all rearing .. . . young of their own.

And I think of the years . . . And the love that I've known.

I'm now an old man . . . . . . .. and nature is cruel.

It's jest to make old age . . . . . . . look like a fool.

The body, it crumbles .. .. . grace and vigour, depart.

There is now a stone . . . where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass . A young man still dwells,

And now and again . . . . . my battered heart swells

I remember the joys . . . . .. . I remember the pain.

And I'm loving and living . . . . . . . life over again.

I think of the years, all too few . . .. gone too fast.

And accept the stark fact . . . that nothing can last.

So open your eyes, people .. . . . .. . . open and see.

Not a cranky old man .

Look closer . . . . see .. .. . .. . ME!!

Remember this poem when you next meet an older person who you might brush aside without looking at the young soul within ... . . .

we will all, one day, be there, too!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/iwWecq8W6To?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque

For Those Who Missed It – Great LOST 70s Sci-Fi Film About 21st Century…

There Are 96,000,000 Black Balls In This Reservoir!

Salon

Why the GOP is obsessed with "woke" — but can't define it

MAGA can't explain what "woke" is, but that's the point — it's a "choose your own bigotry" term for Republicans

"This is hardly the first time that Republicans have latched onto deliberately amorphous terms to convey a sense of outrage while evading responsibility to define what exactly the hell they are on about. "Marxism," "socialism," "political correctness," "demonic," "sexualization": The world of right wing propaganda is rife with terms that mean nothing, and so can be applied to everything. A Republican loves an empty signifier. Specificity invites rational discourse. Rationality is the death of reactionary politics."

Something to remember.

"When they say I cannot

hear you, sing me lullabies

and folk songs, the ones

I sang to you. I will hear them

as an unborn child can hear

its mother's music through

the waters of the womb.

When they say I can feel

nothing, press your face

against my forehead, rest your

hand against my cheek. I

will feel them as the woman

at the window feels the wind

outside the glass.

When they say I'm past

all caring, brush my hair

and braid in ribbons. I will

know it as the seashells

on my table know the

rhythms of the sea.

When they tell you

to go home, stay with me

if you can. Deep

inside I will be

weeping."

— Naomi Halperin Spigle

{ MASTERPOST } Everything You Need to Know about Getting a Job, Raise, or Promotion • Bitches Get Riches

You were told never to enter the crypt… told that the sacred knowledge buried there would break the minds of the weak-willed. You were told… and you disobeyed. Now, as you creep your way forward, guttering torch in hand, you wonder if you’ve made a fatal error. The cobwebs hang thick before you, obscuring your […]

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Jesus: If there is only one lesson that you take away from my teachings, let it be to love all people of the earth unconditionally.

Modern Evangelicals: …Unless of course they’re BIPOC, right?

Jesus: I’m sorry, what?

Modern Evangelicals: Or if they identify as anything other than straight or cis?

Jesus: Wait, no, that’s not what I-

Modern Evangelicals: Or, worst of all, if they have a different opinion than us, or they try to question our way of thinking, or if they dare to challenge the corrupt leaders that we blindly worship, or if they-

Jesus: No, no, no! STOP IT! The whole freaking point of UNCONDITIONAL LOVE is that you love and respect people regardless of their differences, because at the end of the day you have to realize that they are a human being just like you, made in my father’s image, and loved dearly by my father. So when you hate that person, you might as well shout out that you hate me and my father, the very people you claim to worship and love with all your heart! Is this starting to make sense now?

Modern Evangelicals: …

Jesus: …

Modern Evangelicals: …

Jesus: …

Modern Evangelicals: Fuck off hippie.

Jesus: Well, I tried.