Seeing the End of the Tunnel

It was 50 years ago in March of this year that I lived in a rented room in the home of some of the wealthiest people in Lexington County, South Carolina.  

I had just moved from Sumter, South Carolina and started my new job with WABCO in Batesburg, South Carolina.  I was an electronic technician on an assembly line doing trouble-shooting and final alignment of 2-way FM VHF radios sold to the railroads.  My career was just starting!  Going to school at night and working in my field by day.  WOW, talk about an Individual Training Plan!

The room cost me ten dollars per week and it was provided by the man that had donated the land to the Town of Batesburg that was the home of the WABCO plant.  I was engaged to be married to Sandy the following June and only needed the room for the time needed to get an apartment.  The Collum family did this as a favor to the WABCO management as they had done for other new employees that the company recruited over the years.

Each week-end I would go home to Sumter to be with Sandy but, during the week I would have the opportunity to sit in the den of Cora and Uriah W Collum and watch TV.  The conversations were wonderful as they enjoyed my naiveties looking forward into my future and I enjoyed their encouragement and advice.  I think they enjoyed living the anticipation with me.

It is because I remember so well one of the conversations with Mr. Collum himself that I write this piece. 

We were outside one afternoon and he had just offered me an invitation to fish in his private ponds any time I wanted.  He promised that I could catch all the bass I wanted as his ponds were fully stocked.  It was in that conversation that he really caught my attention.  The moment is still so memorable!  He looked at me straight in the eye with a serious demeanor and said these words that I have never forgotten.  “David, I would give everything I own to just have your youth!”  That was quite a statement because at that time he owned over 90% of the timberland in Lexington and Aiken counties in South Carolina.  He was truly a millionaire but his life had ceased to be about possessions.

I was only 21 at the time and did not fully understand why he said that to me but, did get the seriousness from his tone and body language. I have remembered those words all these 50 years and have thought about the conversation many times.

Today at the age 71 I think I finally get it.  Mr. Collum actually died in 1969, just four years later, at 70 years old.  At the time of our conversation he obviously knew that he was in poor health and was looking at me through eyes that had learned that lesson of life that many of us learn too late. “Life is not about stuff and status!”

I have now been diagnosed with a terminal disease and likely have less than a year to live. I do not write this in a spirit of having regrets, I do not.  I just feel driven to convey that lesson-learned to those who are in the GO-GO Phase of their lives cautioning to not forget that living is a blessing regardless of what you have.  Love what you have!  I have heard it said, “It’s the journey, not the destination!”

In the end, our relationships will be the possessions that matter.  Treat others the way you should treat yourself and the rewards will not be physical but, spiritual.  God will take care of our physical needs but, only our behaviors toward others can provide for our spiritual needs.  #LISTEN and #DO