How can you say that a life that lasted very nearly One Hundred Years felt like it was cut short? That is my feeling when talking about Mr. Joe. I had never met him personally, that was supposed to happen at his birthday get together this year. But I, like so many of us here on Tigernet, felt like we knew the man very well, as he graciously allowed us into his life via the many different stories and pearls of wisdom he would impart on these boards.
He, and his contemporaries are all but gone now, the last remnants of what I believe have been correctly labeled as The Greatest Generation. We will never truly realize the gift they gave us, as freedom is all we who were born and raised in these United States have ever known. We will never know what those soldiers during the dark times of WWII knew all too well, which was that the outcome we got was far from a given. It could easily have gone the other way. Take a really close look at that history sometime, it could make your blood run cold.
They say War is H-ell. Men who have gone through it often come back broken. But, others, like Mr. Joe, never let it define them. They looked for, and found the good in things in life to build on. They tried to pass on the positive wisdom they had acquired during lives well lived. Some, you might say, even became beloved. I believe that is the status that Joe21 had achieved here on Tigernet. I might or might not read some others posts, but a post from Joe21 was ALWAYS "Must See TV". You would always be entertained at the very least, and, if you listened carefully at all, you would come away a better person at the end of it.
Now, Mr. Joe has already heard the words that we who live in faith pray to someday hear:
"Well done, my Good and Faithful Servant."
Rest in Peace, Mr. Joe. A Hundred Years seems like just not enough time for those of us left behind.