Sunday, October 5, 2008

Something to think about maybe

Hannah Armstrong

I wrote him a letter asking him for old times' sake
To discharge my sick boy from the army;
But maybe he couldn't read it.
Then I went to town and had James Garber,
Who wrote beautifully, write him a letter.
But maybe that was lost in the mails.
So I traveled all the way to Washington.
I was more than an hour finding the White House.
And when I found it they turned me away,
Hiding their smiles.
Then I thought: "Oh, well, he ain't the same as when I boarded him
And he and my husband worked together
And all of us called him Abe, there in Menard."
As a last attempt I turned to a guard and said:
"Please say it's old Aunt Hannah Armstrong
From Illinois, come to see him about her sick boy
In the army.
"Well, just in a moment they let me in!
And when he saw me he broke in a laugh,
And dropped his business as president,
And wrote in his own hand Doug's discharge,
Talking the while of the early days,
And telling stories.

Edgar Lee Masters, Spoon River Anthology

5 comments:

Stan said...

Hi Leisha,
I loved your story about Obama. This is precisely the type of real life stories that are posted on my site www.StoryLeap.com. Would you consider posting it there? I already nave a few stories about the senator, that would make foe a great addition.
Thanks,
Stan

Heapbasket said...

A insightful post indeed. Experience is important, but so is a person's moral and ethics. A person does not need to serve in the senate for 26 years to know that we are in a unjust war or that ending the genocide in Darfur/Uganda is necessary. Many issues that plague this country and the world stem from ignorance and greed. Most could be solved in due time, but are drawn out and torn apart by the elites who control much of what happens. Our economy is not this bad out of chance. The rich tried getting richer and took risks that would affect the country and the world. When this occurs, the government needs to take action and regulate in favor of the common man, not the CEO.

RHJ said...

Eh? Lincoln var vel aldri senator?!

Leisha Camden said...

Stan: I posted the story, and the url to my blogpost. Just hope no one thinks that that story was my personal experience - it certainly wasn't, I just read it in the paper. But it's good enough to share. :-)

heapbasket: thank you for your own insightful comments. Are you sure you're only sixteen?? ;-) I agree with what you're saying; it's so sad that our world's in such a state. I hope that we as a species have it in us to achieve better things.

Stan said...

Leisha,
Thanks for posting the story!