People Watching & Human Frailty
May 23rd. 2024
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I know in my soul of souls that I must get back to where I was before covid and my life-threatening cancer scare in 2018. I was, up until then; a pretty positive guy and I did have a sense of humour albeit a bit strange. I even wrote a humorous book called “Rantings and Raves of a Curious Old Fart” but life was good and I enjoyed almost all aspects of it. I believe my life was greatly influenced by a near death experience that changed my attitude to a devil-may-care kind of guy. I was 27 years old and just getting on my feet when my life was almost snuffed out by a very serious auto-truck accident. We were left penniless with two small handicapped boys and not even able to buy a car. There were few safety nets in the 60’s for the unfortunate facing our problems. I struggled with back pain, not realizing my back had been broken but I had to struggle to earn a living as I was working on a low income draw and mostly commission on sales. My new boss was patient and very good to me and must have had a great deal of confidence that when I totally recovered, I would be an asset to the company. I proved him right when this little manufacturing company sold a few years later, leaving many of us much richer for our efforts.
My Bucket list made in 1963 was accomplished within ten years and was overflowing with accomplished achievements and ready to be filled again with more life desires to accomplish. At fifty years old, I was ready to make a total change in my life. I didn’t for one minute think retirement would be just sitting around, I had been working since I was 16 years old and not ready to stop, just change: I closed my lucrative sales agency business and sold my manufacturing company to a Chinese company in the food business. They went bankrupt in 9 months. I was in a very unusual place in the bankruptcy order, ahead of the bank but I had to spend five years in the courts to prove my position. It was a precedence setting case but only rewarded me about five cents on the dollar. Our retirement income was greatly diminished so back to the hands-on labour of “flipping and restoring” to put food on the table.
A very lucrative hobby that gave me much enjoyment and financial gain during my working years was “flipping and restoring” Joan and I have been a team in all our endeavors and so we bought a used pick-up truck and got into it seriously now strictly out of necessity. As a hobby and as a profession, we owned over 40 properties and almost as many boats. As soon as a boat got wet, I bought another to restore. Sail or power, from 12 ft. prams to a 1923- 40ft. Ditchburn motor launch owned by the Eaton family. We could do our thing in Florida as well as travel the world selling and leading holidayers on cruises and land trips. We were able to restore our position again financially and have a lot of fun in doing so.
I have worked on behalf of others but rarely for anyone as an employee. I have employed tens of dozens and have been in the presence of the very rich and famous and worked with all walks of life. We have travelled the world and been many wonderful places. People are people the world over. They love and are loved. The human soul has not changed over thousands of years. Emotions of fear, envy, hate, love desire and lust linger in us. White, black, brown or yellow, tall or short, fat or skinny, rich or poor, everyone, comes into this world with nothing and must leave behind whatever accumulated over the short time we are here. My observations of young Chinese parents in mainland that had never seen Caucasians before, and how delighted they were to think we had come from afar to bring gifts for their children, was very heartwarming. We have but a minuet piece of time to do all that we are able that is worthwhile. Time spent pondering over past deeds best forgotten, is wasted time. I have been very blessed to have had opportunities that most have not had, or did not recognize when they were presented. Doors have opened to me that I could have rejected easily but did not. My only regret, if I had one was that many more doors were there that I ignored. These thoughts are rarely recognized by young people and especially important to me, my grandsons. They will have to come to the realization of life on their own for this old man knows nothing.
Love and Hate are opposites. God has given us the ability of free choice, many governments try to take that away from us but if we are strong, we will resist. The media for the most part has been corrupted by governments in many ways and it has been proven that if humanity hears something over and over again, they will believe it. No matter how ridiculous it may be on the outset. A perfect example can be cited in Germany in the 20’s, 30’s, & 40’s. The Nazi’s repeated over and over the terrible threat the Jews were to the German people. Germany, Europe’s most sophisticated and civilized country went almost entirely to Nazi sympathizers and most knew of the Death Camps but chose to ignore them. In present day, history will show that 95% of the world population were convinced that the so-called Vaccine for covid was effective and safe. We now know we were being lied to and still many are getting multiple jabs and boosters and are convinced they are doing the right thing, as millions are dying from sudden Heart and Turbo cancer problems because our natural immune system has been confused by the introduction into our bodies of the Spike protein. It is almost impossible for humans to admit they were wrong or their judgment of authority was misplaced. I fear that we are entering a similar state of fear and that we as a society are about to face another {Nazi like} assault. The Jewish community is always under assault but Christians beware. We are next and with that our health care as bad as it is, will once again be the subject of a demonic take over.
I started this story after observing a very frail older women in our local grocery store. She was scurrying around from one counter to another with boxes of baked goods precariously balanced in her clutch, not in a basket or a cart that is always provided by the store but in her arms. The checkout was another performance as she refused a bag for her convenience. The walk to her car was a ponderous one and then she drove very slowly (not to spill her treasure in the car) she missed stopping at two stop signs and created a very close encounter with another car. This is not a rare occurrence; I spend a lot of time in grocery stores especially in the winter. It is a good place to hold onto a push cart for support and to get my exercise walking. I see all walks of life shopping without the convenience of a basket or a cart. I am sure there is an explanation for this but I am left with more questions than answers. Why is it that we see people wearing a mask while driving alone in their cars or walking the dog in the fresh air? Does my doctor wear a mask all day when it has been proven that they are doing great harm to one’s health? I was under the impression that doctors were well educated and somewhat smarter than the average guy. Are they protecting themselves from us, or us from themselves?
People watching can be fun and confusing.
Paul D. Scott rantingsandraves.com