Just in the nick of time, I finished my 134 hours of community service. It looked like it was never gonna end, but ended rather quickly. I was under the impression that I had one full day left, but was cut some slack by the lady in charge...bittersweet to say the least. I missed out on a lot of partying with the homies, but was told today by a dozen nursing home residents that I most definitely brightened their days while I was there. It broke my heart to hear them actually admit that they feel utterly alone and uncared for in that environment, and I helped out just by listening to them and treating them like humans.
They are peoples parents, grandparents, great grandparents. They lived through wars, train hopped during the depression, danced to famous big band orchestras, buried their spouses...and now they live their last days out in a place where they cant even take a shit until the nurse has time. They have kids who couldn't bare the "burden" of a sick family member and shoved em off to a facility that I shit you not, received one out of five stars for quality. I know that I wasn't exactly there for a noble cause, but I learned a noble lesson.
So guys, if you have old people of your own, let em tell you the story of "walking nine miles in the snow, uphill both ways, with only a lard sandwich for lunch..", even if it is the nine hundredth time you heard it, play a game of checkers, shit, talk crap about the neighbors like me and my gramps, but treat em good. Chances are, they wiped your ass when you were a kid, you could repay them by doing the same.
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