Recently, someone took a couple lines from the song “My Humps”(Black Eyed Peas)  while discussing an issue of weight. The woman who delivered the lines did not recall (so she claimed) who actually sang it.  I knew. In my younger years with my teenagers in the house, I did listen to some of the stations that carried it. Regardless, I decided to google the song and make sure due to a doubting Thomas in the group. Here are parts of the song:

[Will.i.am]   Whatcha gonna do with all that junk

All that junk inside that trunk..   [Fergie] I’ma get get get get you drunk Get you love drunk off my hump…

If you want to read the rest , I found it at http://artists.letssingit.com

When I read through the whole song it  pained me to think I listened to it and really liked the hypnotic effect it has through the music and rhythmic word flow.  I immediately thought about the contrast between these  young people (each 30 at the time of the song 2005 if the stats are correct) and the old gentleman who at HIS age of  thirty was watching his children grow. It isn’t that these two may not have families and not being current with ‘stars’, I don’t really know and really don’t care. My point is how far removed we’ve become in the last 50 + years. Recently when I visited the nursing home I noted how an old gentleman in spite of his shaking hands attempted to put his used napkin in a small container that I had used to discard the ones I had wiped my mother’s mouth with. He was ever so careful to seek out that little container and when I realized what he was trying to do, I pushed it towards him so he could accomplish his mission. Even now, he reaches back and retains the memories of manners. Folks, we have lost them for the most part. But, I have made myself be aware more and more and have determined, that as one individual I can do something about my own self. I hope that by doing so, I can remind someone else of long ago lessons.

Crabby Old Man

When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home in North Platte, Nebraska, it was believed that he had nothing left of any value.

Later, when the nurses were going through his meager possessions, they found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital. One murse took her copy to Missouri.

The old man’s sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas edition of the News Magazine of the St. Louis Association for Mental Health. A slide presentation has also been made based on his simple, but eloquent, poem.

And this little old man, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this ‘anonymous’ poem winging across the Internet.

Crabby Old Man
What do you see nurses?…..What do you see?
What are you thinking…..when you’re looking at me?
A crabby old man…..not very wise,
Uncertain of habit…..with faraway eyes?

Who dribbles his food…..and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice…..’I do wish you’d try!’
Who seems not to notice…..the things that you do.
And forever is losing…..A sock or shoe?

Who, resisting or not…..lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding…..The long day to fill?
Is that what you’re thinking?…..Is that what you see?
then open your eyes, nurse…..you’re not looking at me.

I’ll tell you who I am…..As I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding…..as I eat at your will.
I’m a small child of Ten…..with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters…..who love one another.

A young boy of Sixteen…..with wings on his feet.
Dreaming that soon now…..a lover he’ll meet.
A groom soon at Twenty…..my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows…..that I promised to keep.

At Twenty-Five, now…..I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide…..And a secure happy home.
A man of Thirty…..My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other…..With ties that should last.

At Forty, my young sons…..have grown and are gone,
But my womans’s beside me…..to see I don’t mourn.
At Fifty, once more, babies play ’round my knee,
Again, we know children…..My loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me…..my wife is now dead.
I look at the future…..shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing…..young of their own.
And I think of the years…..and the love that I’ve known.

I’m now an old man…..and nature is cruel.
‘Tis jest to make old age…..look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles…..grace and vigor, depart.
There is now a stone…..where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass…..a young guy still dwells,
And now and again…..my battered heart swells.
I remember the joys…..I remember the pain.
And I’m loving and living…..life over again.

I think of the years, all too few…..gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact….that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people…..open and see.
Not a crabby old man…Look closer…see ME!!

 My current thoughts have been in the usage of words. Today’s words to be exact. This morning while driving to work, the local radio station was interviewing Steve Stockman, who wrote    ”How To Shoot Video That Doesn’t Suck.”  I was immediately put off by the last word, but decided to listen. After work I went to the site and I will say I  like some of his tips. However, something tells me there are enough words in the English language to have brought about a better sounding ending to the title. Suck, AWESOME, good job, etc etc etc are all very annoying to me. When I watch movies that actually have what I deem to be real language I’m so much more satisfied with the content, even if the film critics rule it boring or worse. ”Gone With The Wind” did us no favors by introducing. ’real life language’ at the end. But then, it didn’t portray the people of the South in a real way either, so why am I surprised? I’m not.