I woke up yesterday to the news of another passing. No one told me that was the byproduct of growing up, seeing those you know and love pass away. If I had known that I would have stayed a child, but like everyone else, I just couldn't wait and so here I am. Yesterday it was an old classmate. I probably haven't seen this classmate since 1971 or so but that is not important. I knew him , was in the sixth grade with him and knew of his family. I can't say we were close friends, lifelong buddies or any of that, that would be a lie. It is only through Facebook that we reconnected at all. And that connection was through a single thread, we were classmates. Both coming from a small town that connection held strong and we shared a mutual respect for each other. After all, we were born on common ground. We walked the same earth, breathed the same air and shared the same path in life. Just a couple of small town boys, born in a different time and place, wondering just how we got where we are. Now, this man I called a friend has gone to rest and my world is a little smaller for it.
The past days I have been ranting and raving caught up in this kneeling protest stuff. I didn't get a chance to hear what my friend may have thought about any of that. He was a patriot if ever I met one. A man of fierce pride in his country, his family and his way of life. He had a way about him in that regard, strong, confident and unrelenting, but still amicable enough. He was thought of highly by many, that much I can verify. You may wonder why I am writing so much about this man after admitting I haven't seen him in many years. We were just classmates after all.
Well the truth is he symbolized a place, a time and a lifestyle lost to me. With his passing that time and place grows more distant. I don't know if he ever joined in, but there was a group calling themselves the " Lost Tribe of the Accabonacs" whose purpose was to save that time and place for posterity. He was that " Tribe. " That " tribe " like all tribes spoke a unique language, we call it a dialect today. When I spoke with him I spoke that language, we understood each other. But it was deeper than that, deeper than a shared language, deeper than a shared classroom, we had a shared tradition. A tradition that has been labeled as being a Bonacker. The tribe has lost another and there aren't many left.
I don't claim to be a member of that tribe. I would say I was a close relative. I feel like I have lost a member of my family. It is a loss of community. With his passing I would say an entire community mourns that loss. It doesn't matter if you were his closest confidant or you just knew of his exploits and his legends. He was integral to the community and that community is quickly fading into history. There is an old saying in that language of the Accabonac's, a compliment of the highest order that says, " He was of the finest kind "
The past days I have been ranting and raving caught up in this kneeling protest stuff. I didn't get a chance to hear what my friend may have thought about any of that. He was a patriot if ever I met one. A man of fierce pride in his country, his family and his way of life. He had a way about him in that regard, strong, confident and unrelenting, but still amicable enough. He was thought of highly by many, that much I can verify. You may wonder why I am writing so much about this man after admitting I haven't seen him in many years. We were just classmates after all.
Well the truth is he symbolized a place, a time and a lifestyle lost to me. With his passing that time and place grows more distant. I don't know if he ever joined in, but there was a group calling themselves the " Lost Tribe of the Accabonacs" whose purpose was to save that time and place for posterity. He was that " Tribe. " That " tribe " like all tribes spoke a unique language, we call it a dialect today. When I spoke with him I spoke that language, we understood each other. But it was deeper than that, deeper than a shared language, deeper than a shared classroom, we had a shared tradition. A tradition that has been labeled as being a Bonacker. The tribe has lost another and there aren't many left.
I don't claim to be a member of that tribe. I would say I was a close relative. I feel like I have lost a member of my family. It is a loss of community. With his passing I would say an entire community mourns that loss. It doesn't matter if you were his closest confidant or you just knew of his exploits and his legends. He was integral to the community and that community is quickly fading into history. There is an old saying in that language of the Accabonac's, a compliment of the highest order that says, " He was of the finest kind "
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