Saturday, March 24, 2012

Life and Death in a Hobo's Lullaby

[caption id="attachment_14858" align="alignleft" width="262"] Grandpa in WWI, Europe[/caption]

Carol Forsloff - Every day someone dies alone.  Many of these people live on the streets of America.  Some are found in lonely apartments behind shades that hide the days of sorrow.   Some were men who served in battle, never known by families until long after they had died.

In 2005 it was estimated nearly 150,000 veterans were homeless.  Those numbers have likely increased due to the problems of poverty.  In 2009 it was estimated that 6.3 percent had incomes below the poverty level, as concerned folks remind us.

Some 1800 veterans die in Veterans Hospitals each day.   To help some of these lonely survivors, there are volunteers who stay with the dying when family members are unknown or cannot help.

Old family albums hold many stories of those veterans who lived and died, some whose memory faded as their clothes that covered bodies long since tired and unable to do the things that youth enjoys.

For these men, and women too, who served us all, who remain forgotten memories in family albums, some that are cast aside by those who never knew the value of those album contents, this song and video is a reminder of the value of a single life, something that connects us all.