Last year, knocking on doors, I met a very interesting old man. And for the 100th anniversary of the great Armistice, I thought I’d share our chat here.
As an organizer, my job is to engage only those who engage back. Initially the man dismissed me, saying he wasn’t interested. But as I circled back down his street, he came out, dropped his full trashcan on the street and called me back over with confident gusto. “Come’ere!” He really reminded me of Izzy Mandelbaum from Seinfeld, if Mandelbaum were actually number one.
“I felt bad I shooed you away,” he said. He signed on and told me about his life.