PART TWO OF “SCARS”
NOTE: I am running late. I have been fumbling all week long. Then I got lucky. I re-read East Detroit’s remarks in, “How Do I Love Thee.” Then I read Barnesfoto’s reply in “Let Me Count the Scars,” especially the last sentence about being lucky.

I had Lou Gehrig’s retirement speech rattling around in my head..
http://www.lougehrigspeech.com/
As an eleven year old kid, my hero was Hank Greenberg. Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams were Hank’s competitors, playing for the Yankee’s and the Red Sox. All three of them had their careers interrupted. Gehrig’s was the most pitiable. Williams lost five prime years of his career to the Military, without a whimper. Hank was shuffled [[dumped) off of the Detroit roster, for personal reasons of the ownership, without a complaint, also.
Eloquence is expressed and proven by behavior. It can be described in words of any magnitude but comes off better when the more simple words are employed.
So we come back to Gehrig, his words, the first short paragraph.
“Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.” [[End of quote.)
He died two years later. [[Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, abbreviated ALS, also referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease)
At the age of 13, my street vernacular erupted with sadness. “Shit, why did a guy like that have to die.”
Now, let’s go back to the ranch.
I firmly believe that there are millions of people in our world who can claim title to being the luckiest person in the world. And the beautiful part of that statement can be proven by a million different attitudes or philosophies or circumstances. There is no given formula.
Re:
“I will continue this ’love affair” in a few days but I do have an ulterior motive in writing it. The message within might prove to be provocative to some of the 50 year olds and older.”
What was I referring to in that quotation?
I am referring to longevity. Staying together long enough to finally get rid of all the culls and let the fruit come to fruition.
Of course I am referring to our own situation. Our early years are not something that I would like to dwell on. No, there was nothing onerous. Childish would be the better word. Eventually I started using the word, “maturity” in my vocabulary and in my actions.
Today, this moment, this instant, I glory in being the caregiver. I have been “lucky” enough to have been awarded enough longevity.
Oh, by the way, “Yes, today I consider myself the luckiest personon the face of this earth!”