They Used Me Well
I met my husband’s grandfather on the back end of his life. It has been decades since his passing, and still, I sometimes find myself reflecting on the nuggets of wisdom that he passed on to his grandchildren.
The smell of pipe tobacco, wood shavings and dust were the odors that greeted you when you walked through Gramp’s door. If you didn’t find him in his woodworking shop, or his strawberry patch, you would find him sitting in his favorite spot on the sofa next to his pipe and a pile of books. He would struggle a bit rising off of the sofa to greet you, favoring a bum knee that he acquired from his stint in the army during World War 1.
As I sit here writing, I can still hear him ending the story he was telling with the words, “They used me well.” I found it to be an interesting and a very confusing turn of phrase. I think of the term using people as something negative. However, the way Gramp used it conveyed an entirely different concept. A concept that eluded me in those days.
In the decades since his passing, I have often pondered what he meant by, “They used me well.” I assumed it was a common phrase used by people of his generation. Recently, I googled those four words, confident that the search would return with an explanation, and the origin of the phrase. It didn’t.
One of his stories that ended with these words particularly stands out in my memory. I can see him sitting there in his worn flannel shirt and green work pants, stopping frequently to relight his pipe, as he retold an experience from his time as a town selectman. It was the mid-1940s, and Eli and Bessie Cohen approached the town with a desire to create a Zionist youth camp on the shores of Sunset Lake.
Gramp went on to say that some people were against a Jewish camp coming into the town. He pushed back against these people in support of the camp. The camp was created. He often recalled, with great fondness, how he was invited to a celebratory event at the camp each summer. A highlight of his year.
And, as he frequently did, he ended the story with the words, “They used me well.”
Recently, after contemplating his, words I think I finally understand what he meant. Yes, the Cohen’s did indeed use Gramp. What did they use? They used Gramp’s inner reserves of kindness, compassion and fairness to gain permission to create the camp.
How did they use Gramp well? They used him well because they did not use him for personal gain. They used him to create something positive, something that benefited Jewish youth. This camp has been operating for almost eighty years. It is a camp where kids come to celebrate fun and friendship. Where they laugh, shine and grow on the shores of Sunset Lake. They indeed used Gramp well.
May people use me well.
With Love & Energy By The Pond,
Laurel
