Before the Library Burns

     What he really said was that when an old person dies it is like a library being burned.  I repeatedly misquoted our nearly 90 year old neighbor by saying that an old person is like a walking library.  Both quotes are true.

     Our neighbor, Dick, knows something about everything and so does his wife, Susan. Besides knowing how to live effectively, they know much about history, science, philosophy, literature, religion, mathematics and any other subject you can imagine.

     They are the best of the 1940’s and 1950’s young adults, that have grown old in the 21^st century.  They are always giving to the neighborhood by all kinds of physical help, encouragement and kindness.  They are some of the finest people you would ever meet.

     It is hard not envy them.  Dick and Susan have a loving marriage that has passed the test of time.  They are always together and deeply in love. They are pillars in their church.  They speak with respect to everyone and stop everything to smile and when you pass by their home by car or by foot. 

     Their “olive tree” is full of children, grandchildren and great-grand children, who visit often.  They are definitely the kind of people that young people would want to visit.

     As they sit facing each other, in the warmer months, on the porch  for their breakfast, lunch or dinner, they bow their heads in prayer.  They do their Bible study on the porch, too.

     They host “Welcome to the Neighborhood” parties for new neighbors.  Dick says that the best security system is a good neighbor.  We in the neighborhood feel safe and secure in our home at least partly because of them.  They are not a part of a Neighborhood Watch Program. They are the Neighborhood Watch Program, because they are such good neighbors.

     When Dick was a teenager, he was an American Army private who risked his life in Normandy on D-Day and Susan was a teenager, who faithfully waited for his return.  Now they serve their neighborhood, church, community and country by living the kind of life that D-Day soldiers died to preserve.

     They have a lot to give, share and pass on. They have experienced so much.  We cannot just wave at our elderly family members or neighbors in passing.  We have to go to the “library” to read the book, before the library burns.