So listen I did. Each time I "find time" to listen I learn.
"Family was important in those days. You learned to accept the flaws and took care of each other. Last year for Christmas I got a gift of a plaque to hang on the wall. The plaque reads 'It Is What It Is' I don't want to lose my brother, but I know he is in his 80's and he may not recover; I always say "it is what it is". He continued, "My brother is a few years older than I and neither one of us ever married. I was just too shy to speak to a girl and I figured I wasn't much to look at. My brother had his eye on a lass for awhile, but she went off and married someone else. We decided to take care of mother as she got older, and when she passed away...well we just continued to live together. He went to the nursing home about two months ago because I just can't help him anymore. It has been hard getting used to living on my own."
Today it seems to me we no longer have a sense of caring for and respecting our elders. I more often see young people or even people of my own age shooing away those of maturation. They have become the brunt of our jokes. They have become a burden and are left to remember on their own. If you have the time to listen, find someone that needs to share; I cannot tell you how much I have learned about our past by taking the time to listen.