Been Around the Block- Post #800

When I was a mere lad I used to walk around the block with my grandfather, Clifford Schryver. We used to go around Hariett Street to what are now the projects, and down the side streets.

Grandpa never said a lot but I do remember finding a dime once and I was estatic.

"This is what I want to do," I said. "I'll walk the streets and find money."

"It won't be enough," he said.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Well, I've been around the block once or twice and I know it," he said.

And here I sit, having been around the block a time or two, knowing now what I didn't know then. And feeling as incompetent as that kid was back then.

And coming off a day when I could have perished and not making too much of it, but that sort of shit happens to people every day and it has a place in the psyche, doesn't it?

It's impossible not to think about it. We are all just so fragile. We should have 'Do Not Bend' written on our backs.

So, what to do?

Perhaps 'Suck it up and tough it out and do the best you can is all that we really have'.

I know for a fact, having been around the block or two, that there aren't any free lunches, and that most people would ram it up your ass when faced with the choice of doing that or helping you. I know that charity is a convenience; and that love is a an option reserved when all other options fail.

I know that the strongest bond in the world is blood-related, but that once in a while someone can join the family and mingle with the blood.

I know that people will chase the almighty dollar at the risk of everything else. I understand that finding that next dime on the side street is worth more than helping out someone else.

I understand that no one owes me anything, but that I have compassion in my heart for someone who has less than me.

I comprehend that the greatest thing I can leave behind is my children. They are the bright future that we search for, and the hope that remains in the heart. You get older and you hope to make a difference one way or another.

I've just one shot at this - and there's no fucking way that I won't leave some sort of mark.

And I sit before the computer keys on any given day and I attempt to make my name, wondering where I will find the next dime.

I've been around the block a time or two.

And I still ain't leaving 'till I'm satisfied.

My grandpa was a good man. I think of him often, and at the end of the day, he didn't tell me a whole helluva' lot.

He sort of just kind of led me by putting one foot in front of the other.