Reply #9: He's a child of the Great Depression

[GrpCaptMandrake]

A lot of that generation were that way, for very good reason. Sadly, most of them aren't around to teach us how to live through the one that's on the way. I don't think he was being very cheap when he was laying his life on the line flying in daylight raids over Nazi Germany. That's the greatest extravagance of all: risking one's own life for the benefit of others.

Or, he may just ]i]be "a cheap bastard." If I had to wager, though, I'd bet it's a function of Depression-era frugality.

For my part, I'm a child of Depression-era parents and I do my own shoe care. There's a zen-like pleasure in caring for nice things and making them last in a throw-away culture. Just last week, I sat down with my son and we did our shoes together. I hope he'll remember it someday and teach it to his son like my father taught me and his father before taught him. As a boy, my Dad shined the shoes of the well-to-do and carried their golf bags. It made him a very egalitarian man who bowed his head to no one.