Aging has made me cognizant of the fact that when you tell a guy “see ya later,” later could be at his funeral. The older you get, the more people you’ll know who wind up dead until your number is up. That’s just a statistical reality or fact of life, whatever you want to call it. I don’t dwell on such morbid insights, but it really gets to me when it’s a peer whose tragic death was the result of our preventable American malaise.
Another ID writer and I recently took a long road trip to the funeral of a veteran who’d been our friend for many years and whose family we know quite well. This family includes his young child whom he loved dearly and will now face growing up without him.
Lemme tell ya, he was about as far away from a Boy Scout as one can get. However, by all accounts, he was a good soldier and thrived under the supervision the Army provided. A lot of guys aren’t suited to supervising themselves. That’s just the way God made them. This is why we’re supposed to have functional societies and hierarchical structures within these societies.
After wrapping up his Army career, he could’ve taken his specialty into the private sector and provided a good income for his family. Unfortunately, his service resulted in a life on disability and pain pills. I can’t go into details, but it’s the sort of story with which many of us are sadly familiar.
We arrived at the church early and were milling about in the parking lot when another youngish clean-cut guy pulled up. It was one of his buddies from high school and also a veteran. He introduced himself and was surprised when I mentioned the cause of death, assuming it had been a suicide since he’d attended funerals for so many of them.
Again, I can’t go into details, but we all nodded that it was much better for his family that suicide or OD wasn’t the way the deceased met his demise. It was a really bad way to go, but still. We chuckled about some of his hi-jinks that were as appalling as they were hilarious and then headed inside.
The funeral was as upbeat as one would expect. During the eulogy, the priest lamented that the community had been afflicted with a spate of untimely deaths. I looked around and noticed that this old church was full of Heritage Americans. Driving around, I didn’t notice any of them. The town was packed with people from countries where the use of toilets isn’t common.
The last time I’d been there was a decade ago, when the demographic landscape outside was about the same as it was inside the church. The guy we’d met in the parking lot explained that nobody our age who’d grown up there could afford a house, which is why he lived far away. Without using racial terms, he exclaimed that he couldn’t recognize his hometown. This has become a common lament in America.
Well, I guess that’s enough depressing material for one article. I’m gonna go cut the lawn, clean out the gutters and then crack open my first beer of the day. Actually, I’ll probably do that in the reverse order. I ain’t no hero.
I’m proud to officially announce my candidacy for the office of Dogcatcher.
Uncle Sam’s LGBT imperial military jokes? Nathan Bedford Forrest could have killed a dozen of them single-handedly before they could bat an eye. Crazy Horse could have, too.
Definitely true about a lot of people not being able to supervise themselves in the chaotic world we live in. IRL is kind-of like playing Grand Theft Auto, but there’s no mission objectives or whatnot. Is like “okay, what am I supposed to do? how do I know of I’m ‘winning’?”
That’s why so many young people don’t get married or fulfill the traditional “life markers” of success. I basically wasted the entirety of my 20s and up into my early 30s chasing vain pursuits. Many young women I dated and could’ve started up a life with, but didn’t because of the online-dating thing of “what if someone better is just a message away!?”
The “see you later = potential funeral” thing hit close to home for me. As someone who was hospitalized for a drug OD in early 2020– catatonic state, convulsions, vomiting, temporary memory loss, etc– it really humbled my pride. While clean now, it taught me to not be overly judgemental regarding other people.
Remember: the sin of pride is #1 because its the one-and-only sin that will prevent you from recognizing any of the other sins that may’ve inculcated their way into your entire life without you even knowing it.
Sounds like Northwest Arkansas. 2000 census the county was 90% white, 2010 – 76%. 2020 – 67%. Mostly indians, asians and mexicans. Also housing is very expensive. I’m in my later 20s and can’t afford to buy anything here. I’ve decided to move further out into the countryside since I work remotely. I’m sick of seeing my town get more and more crowded with traffic and people who don’t care about our heritage. I’m not going to pay a premium to live like that.