{"id":37,"date":"2015-11-26T17:10:24","date_gmt":"2015-11-26T17:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sustainablefreedomlab.org\/?p=37"},"modified":"2023-10-03T20:18:27","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T20:18:27","slug":"a-true-gift-of-thanks-giving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablefreedomlab.org\/2015\/11\/26\/a-true-gift-of-thanks-giving\/","title":{"rendered":"A True Gift of Thanks-giving"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"flower-22656_640\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is a true story of Ron, a feisty old Marine as caring as he was gruff.<\/p>\n

Ron took care of those he liked.\u00a0 Though hardly wealthy, he was a saver and had set aside enough money for the full college tuition for each of his three grandchildren.<\/p>\n

When Ron\u2019s new neighbor moved into the apartment above, he took him under his wing. He introduced the \u2018new guy\u2019 to his friends and invited him to tag along to his favorite Friday bar for a few beers and laughter. \u00a0On rainy Sundays, the stubby, tough guy would often tap on the ceiling with a broom handle and invite his neighbor down to watch whatever game was in season along with a plateful of his homemade potato pancakes. He wanted to be sure his new friend was not lonely.<\/p>\n

But, at 72, Ron had heart troubles and one day entered the local hospital for surgery. His neighbor visited every day.\u00a0 Though the procedure was successful, his neighbor noticed Ron was alarmingly slow in recovering from the anesthesia.<\/p>\n

Then, the impossible happened.\u00a0 Ron disappeared.\u00a0 Since the neighbor was not a relative, the hospital shared no information and calls to the relatives he knew went unanswered.<\/p>\n

The mystery stretched on for nearly a month, when a rumor floated that Ron was in a state run mental institution.\u00a0 The neighbor was shocked.\u00a0 What was one of the most stable people around doing in a psychiatric hospital?<\/p>\n

After some detective work, the bizarre pieces emerged.\u00a0 Because of his response to the anesthesia, the hospital moved Ron to a nursing home to recover. In the home, a nurse attempted to wrestle the barely-coherent Ron into a wheelchair.\u00a0 Well, the old Marine was not about to be shoved around.\u00a0 In his clouded state, he shoved the nurse back.\u00a0 Outraged, the insensitive staff member called the police and filed a complaint.<\/p>\n

With Ron unable to explain what happened, the nurse told her story of the \u201cattack.\u201d\u00a0 The hospital placed him in their behavioral unit and his family approved his move to the psychiatric hospital.<\/p>\n

Finally, after 6 weeks, on visitor\u2019s day at the psychiatric facility, Ron\u2019s neighbor came face to face with his old friend.\u00a0 The surroundings were a Jack Nicolson nightmare. Dazed patients wandered the halls directionless, sanitation was lacking.<\/p>\n

A senior nurse confided, \u201cHe doesn\u2019t belong here.\u00a0 The longer he stays, the more he deteriorates. But, his sister has applied for guardianship and she doesn\u2019t want him out.\u201d<\/p>\n

It turned out his sister\u2019s main objective was Ron\u2019s savings account.<\/p>\n

After weeks of collaborating with the state hospital administrator, the neighbor became the judicially appointed guardian and Ron returned to his apartment. The two were fast friends until a year later when the tough kindly Marine finally succumbed to a massive heart attack.<\/p>\n

At the viewing, the neighbor walked into the funeral home and did not understand why the crowd of nearly 100 mourners looked at him and began whispering.<\/p>\n

He felt like leaving when one man he knew guided him to the front of the room. \u201cEverybody,\u201d he said aloud. \u201cHere he is.\u201d \u00a0Now the neighbor was completely puzzled.\u00a0 The man continued, \u201cThis is the one who saved Ron\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every face in the room smiled and nodded, even Ron\u2019s sister!\u00a0 One by one, people came up and thanked the neighbor for helping their old friend. He tried to smile and talk to people, but the best he could do was choke out a \u201cthank you.\u201d\u00a0 Later, he left, but that day and that room changed him forever.<\/p>\n

See, I was that neighbor and Ron became one of my best friends. Later people told me that, after the hospital debacle, when Ron invited them to his apartment, he would point his cane at the ceiling and the upstairs apartment saying, \u201cdon\u2019t ever forget, there\u2019s the man that saved my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The few things that I did to help a friend that had helped me were insignificant compared to all I had gained.\u00a0 It was from Ron, that I learned what it meant to be a genuine, good and caring person.<\/p>\n

The kindnesses we do travel, they change lives and sometime, when you least expect it, they come back.<\/p>\n

For this Thanksgiving, I wish the kindness you have given will return and renew your own dedication to helping the people you meet.\u00a0 With all the madness in the world, it is what matters most.<\/p>\n

Happy Thanksgiving,<\/p>\n

John<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a true story of Ron, a feisty old Marine as caring as he was gruff. Ron took care of those he liked.\u00a0 Though hardly wealthy, he was a saver and had set aside enough money for the full college tuition for each of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablefreedomlab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablefreedomlab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablefreedomlab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablefreedomlab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablefreedomlab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablefreedomlab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1688,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablefreedomlab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions\/1688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablefreedomlab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablefreedomlab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablefreedomlab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}