Point of View

Our understanding of everything is framed by our past experience.

At exercise class, without leaving our chairs, we did leg exercises, lifting them up and down, moving them back and forth, using stretch bands to strengthen our calf muscles, and exhausting ourselves “riding a bicycle” without the bike.

Then Renee, our teacher, a delightful young lady but young enough to be our granddaughter, said, “Let’s all stand up and march in place.”

As Sue struggled to her feet, she said, “Is this trip really necessary?”

The old ladies in the class laughed.

I turned to Renee and said, “Do you know that expression?”

Renee: “What expression?”

I explained, “During the war we had to conserve gasoline. The government kept reminding us, ‘Is this trip necessary?’ We heard it all the time.”

Then I realized. Renee is too young to remember World War II with gas rationing and coupons to buy butter and meat and shoes. There have been wars since – Korea, Vietnam, Bosnia, the First Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan – but for us old folks, “the war” is always World War II.

I also remember a trip Emmy and I took in 1953. As we drove along the James River in Virginia, hoping to catch sight of some of the famous 18th Century plantation homes, I saw a sign, “Malvern Hill, Ancestral Home of the Cocke Family.” I turned into the drive, telling Emmy, “This must be my ancestral home. My mother and grandmother are members of the DAR on the line from their Cocke ancestor. I’ve got to see this.”

At the top of the hill we found a ruin, only the chimney standing of what had been a large mansion. A woman came out of a nearby frame farmhouse and asked what we were doing in her front yard.

I told her we were looking for my ancestors. Malvern Hill was also the site of a bloody battle during the Civil War. I asked, “When did the house burn?”

She: “I don’t know exactly. It was before the war.”
Me: (wondering if she meant the Civil War or World War II): “Which war was that, M’am?”
She: The Revolution

I guess Virginians want to forget the Civil War. For them “the war” will always be the American Revolution, with the victory at Yorktown, Virginia, which gave us our freedom.

It’s all in the point of view.