I have talked before about this motley group of old men, of which I am one, who get together a few times a week for coffee. We come from many different facets of life, teachers, engineer’s, public safety, military and even a retired banker. Were from all different sides of the political isle and different faiths too. Some of us are married and some are single but the one thing we have in common is we’ve all had a lot of experiences in life that we enjoy sharing with each other. But most of all we have a lot of respect for each other. That respect we have for each other is more important then all of our beliefs, preconceived ideas, or past experiences because in the end—our goal is just to be friends.
What if the rest of the world could operate this way? What a wonderful world it would be. We have found that the place for politics is at the polls and the place for religion is in your homes and churches. Were old men and we have learned that we can be a little grumpy and stubborn sometimes but we also know that to be that way just ostracizes you and so there you sit with your long sad face and no one wanting to talk to you. But if you throw that foolish pride out the window and find that common ground where we can all walk together, then life is so much easier.
Over the years as we have met together, the group has changed many times and as sad as it is to see someone leave; sometimes through death or illness or moving away, there’s always excitement to see someone new come and join us. If nothing more they may have some new jokes. God knows, we need some new jokes.
I believe that this kind of social networking is played out in many other places. Most of them though have a common cause and I must admit if we do have a common cause, outside of friendship, I’m not sure what it is. We have no leaders, no board of directors, no written rules and no real objectives. No one has ever been kicked out or made to feel unwelcome. On the other hand no one has ever been put in charge of anything either so there is a complete lack of authority or organization. If something does need to be organized, Fergie just does it, and were all fine with that. We have no agenda except to be reasonably nice to each other. Meetings are not mandatory and attendance is not taken. There are no applications or qualifications.
We do have a real past roll of honor because we not only don’t forget each other, we don’t forget our passed members either who have gone on before us. It was their character and their spirit that made this thing work for so many years. We only need to emulate what they started and keep this thing going.
So if you’re not busy Monday, Wednesday or Friday at nine in the morning. If you don’t mind wasting an hour of your life you’re not going to get back. If you’re not too thin skinned and have some new jokes, we would love to meet you. We’re at Pine Peaks Café and the waitresses are beautiful and the food is great. Come on in.
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