Q and A with a 100 Year Old Man

originally posted by: angeldoll
I'm loving all the pictures! Thank you, you were indeed a handsome man, zipping through American skies.

Another question -- Did you ever have a close call when flying? When you thought your plane might go down?

No close calls that I remember - famous pilot joke: 'Flying is easy. Landings are the hard part'

Back then, (20s and 30s) if you wanted to fly, you just did. I learned to fly before I got a driver's license; actually, I don't remember if you needed a driver's license then or not. You just took the plane up and if you lived through it, you were a 'pilot'. I never flew anything more complicated than a Cessna, though. Wish I had one of those Jennies now, though. They were almost giving them away after the war.

SC, I just loved all the pics you have shared in here! When my Mom passed away, I went through hundreds of pics of her as a child in button up boots, to teenage years, young woman, getting married to My Dad her navy man, her children, great grandchildren, great, great grandchildren. Photos of Dad as a child, young man and on through the years. It was history and memories coming alive and revealing themselves. So beautiful and touching and profound.

You don't look your age at all! I can't tell you how much I am loving this thread and how much you make me smile. What an amazing, charming and delightful man you are! Hugs!

I would just like to say, I have to thank SargonThrall for getting the OP to deliver a way more interesting response to one of my questions here...

And to SentientCentenarian, I think it's cute that you judged me right away and then delivered the least offensive response you could. But come on, let's get real. What do you have to lose by being honest NOW? I say offend us. At least it'll be raw and honest and not boring. And tbh, I'm not offended by atheism.

I have another question.

You said you believed in reincarnation(somewhere around here, right? or am I making that up, lol) because that made sense to you. Can you talk about why or how that makes sense to you, and also... what do you hope to be born again as, after you die? Like what do you envision happening... after you die?

Also, can you remember past lives? If so, I'd like to hear about that.

If I'm wrong about the reincarnation comment which I will be on the lookout for (I could be getting people mixed up here), what do you think really happens after death?

Honestly. I won't be offended!

You looked like you were about 12 and I reacted to that rather than your post about your age. And like I said in the other post, I'm used to being non-confrontational on this topic especially, but it's a real hot button issue for me (obviously).

So, real thoughts? Some of this is relatively new-thought from talks with my caretaker. And Egyptian studies.

Yes, I think we reincarnate, no I haven't had memories of a past life but my caretaker has and I've talked to many people over the years who said they had also; I would love to come back in 100 years and see what's happened in the interim, or on another planet with a whole new civilization to learn!

When you die, you're released from the body and become 'only' spirit for however long you want. We are not our physical bodies, they're just 'meat suits' as I've heard it put, aptly. I think remote viewing proves this - another fascinating topic and something everyone should be getting trained in. Maybe the skeptics would learn something

One of the things I never liked about religion is you're supposed to 'believe' in someone or something to get the payoff - the 'go to heaven' thing. Don't believe and you're poked with hot sticks for eternity. What a racket that thought is! Why would 'belief' be necessary? It's a matter of physics, not belief or who got crucified. I can understand (maybe) having that belief system when we didn't even know what lightning was, but now? It's stupid and counterproductive to society advancing.

Obviously, don't get me started.


On a nicer note, you're very cute. Kitten face.

originally posted by: SentientCentenarian
Here's Fern:

She's beautiful! She does have such a sweet face... I loved hearing more about her and your relationship.

I have a very good man, myself. I was the "older college woman" who snagged him up while he was a Senior in High School. Hey, I know a good thing when I see one!! We went together for two and a half years, then married. It has been a rocky road in many ways, but we've managed to navigate it together despite the twists, turns and hazards.

- AB

a reply to: SentientCentenarian

Simply amazing!!

I work in senior care and its extremely rare these days that those who reach 100 still have their mental capacity

Congratulations my friend... you are one in a million to say the least

Glad you're a member of our forum!

S&F

Typist's note:

I should probably explain more about the dynamics of sharing one avatar and how the typing of these posts happens:

*H* and I spend a lot of time talking about different topics everyday and now, the questions you've asked. Many of them are questions other people have asked him over the years, including myself. But I will put the question to him again (to his delight) and he'll tell me his answer, and then I type it up and read it to him and make sure he's happy with it. We tend to go through lots of drafts. I'm a natural writer of sorts, he is not, and his posts come out conversational but a bit rambling if I don't edit them down.

He especially likes the questions that are new and novel - and the weird ones like 'do you still get laid' - that got a hearty laugh out of him, with a comment 'I wish', followed by 'it'd probably kill me...'

I try to be aware of 'my' own voice coming through in these but it may be unavoidable; his contemporary vernacular and mine are set apart by about 40 years and although I've lived with him now for over a year and known him for three, I'm still learning. Sometimes it feels like a Vulcan mind meld and I'm not sure where one of us starts and the other leaves off. I've never met anyone in my life I felt more in sync with, even though I was married for 30 years myself. We've come to many of the same conclusions about life here on this little spinning globe.

Thank you all for your questions and comments - the hardest thing with him is keeping his mind occupied, since his physical stamina is dicey some days; I'm sure he was a near-genius in his day and still retains much of that now, and so this is the hardest part of my 'assignment' - I trade free housing for providing him with a driver and cook and medical oversight, and in turn I'm provided with getting to know this amazing person. It also frees his son up from worrying about him; they wanted him to move in with them for the last 30 years and he always refused. It became a real problem when he lost his license and his last sister had died.

a reply to: SentientCentenarian

Thank you Typist for giving us these details. It seems you are a great companion and friend for SC. It is so good to know that he has someone who cares so much and is looking after him. This is one of my favorite threads and I shall be following along closely.

I don't have a question per se. I just wanted to take the opportunity to say thank-you so much for sharing your life with us. We need to learn from the past (and present!) to avoid its repetition.

And I just wanted to say I wish you peace, health, and an even longer life than you already know.

Peace.

a reply to: AceWombat04

Same to you, Ace!

a reply to: SentientCentenarian

Father was a banker IN THOSE DAYS TOO

Burn em

Burn em

Heheh just kidding

Hello SC

So I too believe in much the same kind of reincarnation philosophy you espouse. I believe we each are willing to put ourselves through the onerous challenge of incarnating because the benefits outweigh the costs.
The cost side is a bit obvious: it can be real HARD to be here! There is much suffering, much confusion, much pain involved with each incarnation. Even the "happy" ones.
If you agree with this position, I'd love to here from you:

1. Why do you think you incarnated into this life of yours? Is there an overall purpose to your life that you can discern? A pre-incarnational "plan" that you have been working towards?

2. And, to be blunt, why do you think you are still here? Is there something you still wish to do with this life?

I also think we keep reincarnating until we are done with this type of existence at this level of reality. Then we move on to other games entirely in other realms of existence. You have indicated in a previous post that you'd like to come back in future time for another life to see what the future looks like. If you could see and know all of that without the rather onerous effort required of being born into another life and being a baby and learning everything from scratch AGAIN... Would you still wish to incarnate again? I guess what I am asking is this:

3. If your curiosity could be completely sated without incarnating again... would you still want to do it again? And if so... why?

Thank you!

a reply to: SentientCentenarian

Since they found out I was a speed typist, they made me a bit of a Radar O'Riley for the HQ brass. I spent my days typing up reports from both Allied and Japanese officers, detailing all the stuff that happened at the end of the war; most of it was awful and I didn't want to remember it, and was told not to. I had a relatively high security clearance, I think. Some of the reports were about awkward and almost code-like discussions of foo fighters; without outright saying so, the brass were trying to figure out if they were German tech or perhaps our own they hadn't been told about. You could tell they were perplexed but unwilling to go much farther in surmising what they were. During the war, I don't think they had time to think about them.

Enjoyed scanning the thread for your retelling of lifes experiences. I was surprised to see nobody has yet asked you about these "awkward and almost code like discussions" of Foo fighters (as they were called back then). Care to elaborate any memories you have about those encounters, any particular report stand out in your memory?

Thanks in advance...

a reply to: Bootifool

1. Why do you think you incarnated into this life of yours? Is there an overall purpose to your life that you can discern? A pre-incarnational "plan" that you have been working towards?

2. And, to be blunt, why do you think you are still here? Is there something you still wish to do with this life? I also think we keep reincarnating until we are done with this type of existence at this level of reality. Then we move on to other games entirely in other realms of existence. You have indicated in a previous post that you'd like to come back in future time for another life to see what the future looks like. If you could see and know all of that without the rather onerous effort required of being born into another life and being a baby and learning everything from scratch AGAIN... Would you still wish to incarnate again? I guess what I am asking is this:

3. If your curiosity could be completely sated without incarnating again... would you still want to do it again? And if so... why?

#1 is a subject of much talk around here... I have no idea. Maybe just to be a witness to history. I've outlived so many people; half the men I went to HS with died in the war. All those kids we went to the dances with, just gone! weeks later. So many young widows and heartbroken girls who never married. Then I get over to Japan just in time to be saved by the bombs, literally, and ended up spending the next two years being a tourist there, almost. I never had to shoot at anyone and never was shot at, or even threatened. The Japanese people were warm and welcoming.** When I got back, I spent my free time hunting the desert for Indian artifacts, fossils and arrowheads; hundreds of them. I think I just love the idea of time and how little we understand it. Our ancestors were only a blink ago, and their way of life lasted so much longer than ours has; we're carving out new lifestyles faster than we can adjust to them and our technology is exceeding our ability to control it. Meanwhile, we still 'believe' in ancient fairy tales and explanations that were dreamed up for things we didn't understand, like lightning, etc. It's all quite odd and shows how the human brain works (not well enough!)

2. Again, no idea why I'm still here! And why I've retained my 'oomphf' compared to others. And why my excessive sugar intake (Coke and Snickers bars) hasn't killed me yet. I keep waiting for something to happen that will show me why I'm still here; I've been interviewed many times in the last year since I turned 100 and became a bit of a celebrity - my story will be on video in the Library of Congress and the Balboa Park (San Diego) Veteran's Museum and I've had other various local newspaper articles. Even in very military San Diego, I'm one of the last of the WWII vets; even though technically I was part of the occupation army and not WWII proper. Maybe I was just waiting for my companion to come along and help me both document things (she's been the impetus for lots of these interviews) or maybe all the talks we've had will mean my life story will survive longer than I can.

I keep busy but I don't feel like there's anything in particular I need to get done in any given day, except lately I've been labeling the back of all my memorabilia, indicating where it came from and who in the family should get it. I wish my great-grandkids were more interested in some of this stuff, but they're long distance and fairly young still. Only one has shown an interest in genealogy. And nobody wants the Model A! Sheesh!

3. I'm not sure how 'my curiosity could be sated without incarnating again' - how that would work exactly. I would think that the other side, the spiritual side, is so overwhelming and compelling in its own right that maybe that's why we tend to forget from one side to another - imagine being able to see everything without eyes! Being born/incarnated must be like a long jump into a dark pool by comparison.

I did have a talk with someone long ago who claimed he remembered 'billions', that was his word, of lives, on other planets also. Never was sure if he was hallucinating, cursed with perfect memory or what. He did seem emotionally very fragile.

I guess rather than staying in the other side 'too much' whatever that means if you have eternity to work with, I'd love to explore other planets. This can't be the only one. Forever is a helluva lot of time to kill...

being a baby and learning everything from scratch AGAIN

My companion claims they 'knew' how to read English from birth, and only needed to be exposed to writing again to relearn it, instantaneously; perhaps proof of reincarnation. So maybe we don't have to relearn everything but old souls that retain some things are a possibility. I sure wish I 'remembered' Egyptian hieroglyphs; now THERE's a strange writing system! But fascinating in the extreme. Possibly the most alien/foreign civilization the world has ever seen.

**That reminds me of a story I forgot about Japan - in one of my weekends off I traveled far out into the countryside; nothing for miles, the paper and bamboo houses had been firebombed. I came across an old man who was squatting down straightening nails he had retrieved from what was left of his house - with the head of a hammer; the wooden part of the hammer was gone! I went back that night to my camp and requisitioned a 'large box of big nails and a large box of small nails' and a hammer - no one asked what for, and the next day took them out to him. He acted like I'd given him a box of gold! In a way I probably had. I'm sure he could have traded those nails for gold, food, anything.

War is hell.

I hope I've answered your question. It's quite the esoteric one and I've spent 90+ years on it already without much progress.

a reply to: intrptr

Hi intrptr, I read a lot of your posts and really like them!

I've pretty much stated what I know about the foo fighters - even civilians talked about them back during and after the war. 'Flying Saucers' were quite the rage there for a while. 'The Day The Earth Stood Still' captures it well. The 'coded' conversations weren't code like Enigma, but code like you'd talk if you had no idea what you were talking about and were not sure if you'd be laughed at or get in trouble, in the case of the brass... all surmission and gossip with no facts. 'What do you know? I dunno, what do YOU know?' Early typed reports (a few by me) were simply 'Pilot saw unexplained lights which shadowed him for X minutes' type things. So they were still being seen in 1946 Japan, or people were still way behind in making their reports. Or I was typing too slow... :-/

It wasn't until after the war that we finally realized they weren't possibly German tech, because the German pilots had the same experiences and thought it was us. Either the Paperclip scientists told us, or we finally got around to translating reports from during the war.

When Donald Keyhoe came out with his books Keyhoe I read them at the time. There was a lot of open talk about 'them' until the hammer came down and it was decided not to talk about it, or even admit anything was going on. The truth was obviously elsewhere and now under wraps. I *do* know that US pilots were very angry that what they saw was being ridiculed, and if they talked about it, it was career-ending. How can you learn new things and adjust to reality if you can't even talk about it? What kind of government decides to do that to it's finest military men? They wanted to warn others in case they were dangerous to fly near, and they wanted answers for what they had experienced!

That's about the time I realized that our government was deciding to lie to us about something very big; we took the wrong turn there and I don't think the U.S. is what our forefathers worked for anymore, from that point on. We (they) took the wrong path. What a few people may know about it all, and why they are still hiding it from us, scares me immensely. Is the truth actually that frightening (do they treat us as cattle? Where are all the missing people??), or do they think the majority are fools who would never adjust to it because their religion would preclude it? I don't know.

Second Keyhoe book: Keyhoe #2

Keyhoe's books are excellent in describing the angst of the time, and he had the ear of the military - and no cell phones or computers here, guys! You found yourself a phone booth!

a reply to: SentientCentenarian

Excellent perspective, thank you so much for taking the time to relay it for everyone. I don't go that far back but have studied the early years of reports like Roswell and Washington UFO "Flap". I'm even pretty sure I have observed something out of this world myself (back in the phone booth days, lol).

Thanks for reiterating from your perspective the government 'clamping a lid down" on pilot reports and their frustration behind it.

Coming from you (a pilot with privy to intel) that says a lot.

a reply to: intrptr

I was only a pilot as far as Iowa goes - my uncle had a flying service moving mail and cargo, circa 1920 to 1939 or so? I'm not sure how long that lasted, to be honest. We would buy up crashed planes, fix them up, take them up again, sell them and then do it over again.

I was drafted in 1945 or very late in '44- and they sent me to Kansas to learn how to drive a tank, which I never did do in Japan. They found out I could speed type and I spent my days typing up reports and ordering supplies at the Toyko base. Radar O'Reilly captures it. Shoulda mailed home a jeep, piecemeal... I *did* appear to have high level intelligence security clearance, though. I can look up the paperwork if you're interested in the exact designation; it's around here somewhere in the clutter.

I was told several times 'not to remember any of this stuff' and I didn't want to; most of it was awful. One Japanese general sent his men out for some task and they failed; he shot them, all three of them, point blank for failing. And there were a lot of skirmishes in flushing out stragglers from all the caves and tunnels the Japanese were hiding in; it took time for word to filter out that they had surrendered and some didn't want to. Our guys had to go cave to cave, coaxing people out, or burning them out if that didn't work. That wasn't talked about much but it was dangerous work; they'd pop up and shoot our guys in the back if we didn't account for them all.

a reply to: SentientCentenarian

O'Reilly captures it. Shoulda mailed home a jeep, piecemeal... I *did* appear to have high level intelligence security clearance, though. I can look up the paperwork if you're interested in the exact designation; it's around here somewhere in the clutter.

MASH is one of my favorites... right up there with Catch 22. I don't need to see your credentials good sir, I can tell you're being honest.

Thanks again for gracing the boards. And you're right, war is hell.

a reply to: SentientCentenarian

Thank you kindly for your detailed response!

I have a question. This one has to do with the perception of time and life events. I am young man, 30 years old and yet I feel like my first taste of adulthood, the past 10 years have really been a grind and full of a lot of emotional and mental loops. I have nothing of a career aspiration going. I've dabbled in a quite a few ideas. I seem to be good at a lot of things but not good enough, or interested enough to stick to one. I feel like I'm kind of on a hamster wheel of the same ol' and I would change it just for the sake of change but I find myself appreciating things as they were, even though they were far from perfect. I don't really feel like I can trust myself to make big life decisions because I have seen how they sort of fizzle out and i'm okay with it for the most part.

So my question is, what do you take from the simple passage of time? Is the best part of life to just enjoy each day for what it is? I can't imagine living to 100 because at times I have felt very miserable and just want off the ride and i'm a pretty optimistic guy. I think I am just under-stimulated.

Have you gone through stretches of time, a whole decade even where you felt this way, how did you over-come it, and now in your older years what do you find is most important to you to live a good life?