My Grandpa. Oscar Jensen, only finished the 6th grade in public school, but he was one of the smartest people I ever knew in my life. As I reach retirement age, I think back on my Grandpa and find I have relied on many of his little sayings, and have watched how things, he talked to be about when I was a child, have manifested themselves in today's world.
One of my Grandpa's "little sayings" was whenever I would get behind the wheel to drive a car, he would always say, be sure to watch for that 'invisible' car. One day, a bit annoyed, I asked him what he meant by that piece of wisdom. His response was, " do you think people purposely allow themselves to get hit by a car. You know, I gave it some thought, and came to the conclusion there must be some "invisible" cars around that people can't see running around the area. So I have decided when I am driving I need to take a second look to make sure there are not any 'invisible' cars around."
I remember shaking my head, and thinking, you crazy old man. But now, I understand. I can't tell you the number of times that advice saved me from some serious, serious auto accidents. Grandpa was thinking about things like that all the time. Another time, after Grandpa had suffered a stroke, he and I were in the backseat of car, waiting for Grandma and my mother to do some shopping. As we sat there, Grandpa noticed all these parked cars still running, while people were in stores. This happened in our small home town, in the mid-1960's. Grandpa noticed all the exhaust fumes and smoke from the exhaust pipes of the cars. It was a brutally cold winter day. He said, "you ever wonder where all that goes, Doug, that smoke. It has to go somewhere, it doesn't just disappear. I can smell it, even when I can't see it, and so can you. It might be harder for you, because I remember back to the way things smelled, before there were cars. That exhaust smell is never gone, and think about the number of cars in the world. It has to be doing things to our environment. . .making plants grow differently, making us breath differently. You almost think it would be making things hotter . . that and cement. Look here at all the cement, covering the ground. You know that cement makes things hotter. Think about how much cooler things are, when we are at the farm, instead of in town. Then think about New York city, or Chicago. . .sure makes a fellow wonder what the world will be like, when you get to be my age."
Grandpa was like that about everything. He pondered things. He loved rocks, and showing me rocks, and showing me how rocks formed. Showed me rocks he had collected that looked like they had melted, or others that looked glued together. Grandpa's farm was one of my favorite places in my childhood. Grandpa had fenced it, in an unusual way. There were lots of gates and a lane or two, which seemed different to me. But when I asked him, why it was the way it was, when he explained it, I realized, he had put lots of thought into how he fenced his farm. The way he did fence it, gave him so much more flexibility regarding how he ran his cattle and how he hayed the farm.
When Grandpa passed away, we cleaned his home, Grandma had passed away first, I purposely kept some boxes with Grandpa's handwriting on them. Fairly recently I found them again, and opened them up. What I found made me smile. The boxes were full of booklets, books and papers from the government and other agencies on about every subject under the sun. . .farming practices, raising cattle, fixing machinery even some books on building radios. There was even a little book on how television worked, how waves carried the images through the air.
My Grandpa only had a sixth grade education, but he wasn't ashamed of that. When I asked him once about school, he said, he couldn't see any reason to continue. He knew he was going to be a farmer, and he figured he could teach himself anything else he would need to know. I have a some college degrees, and because I had some excellent advisors in college, I had the opportunity to teach at the college level in a couple of colleges, while working on advanced degrees, but like my Grandpa, I decided I couldn't see much reason to continue with my education. Hopefully I am like my Grandpa in other ways also, one of the smartest men, it has been my honor to know.
No comments:
Post a Comment