It
wasn’t long after Marti and Max told their dear friends at Jacob’s
Nursing Home that junk fun was planned and told in the newspaper. The
newspaper said, “COME SEE THE ‘PARADE OF PARTS’ SPONSORED BY
THE ROCKING CHAIR ROCKETS.” The place would be at the local nursing
home next Saturday. The time was stated. And then the article went on
to describe some of the many ways the facility worked hard to enhance
dignity and hospitality toward its residents.
Saturday
brought a really great turnout of visitors. Most of them had visited
some of the residents before, but came out of curiosity to see what
‘parts’ would be displayed by the Rocking Chair Rockets. In the
center of the activity room were two tables.
At
one table sat 7-year-old Dorothy and silver-haired Beulah. Each had a
spoon in their hand. First the little girl would use her spoon to pop
a key cap off the junk computer keyboard positioned between them.
Then her friend Beulah would do the same. There were little cupcake
papers to put the keycaps in.
More
than once, a keycap would pop off and go into the air. Before Dorothy
would run after it, she’d see her friend slap her leg and laugh
big. After a few times the 7-year-old would do the same leg slapping
and laughing. The little one never did figure out why you’re
supposed to slap your leg, but it was great fun and that was why she
loved being with her silver haired friend.
At
the other table Jimmy and Pete were taking the screws out of the big
box portion of another junk computer. When the news team arrived a
little after lunch, Pete was showing little Jimmy that some screws
need a screwdriver that looks like a plus sign (+) and others use a
minus sign (-) screwdriver.
With
a grin Pete said some troublemaker named, “Allen” invented a
screwdriver that really looked goofy – kind of like a snowflake.
Jimmy was taught by the old gentleman to put each kind of screw in
its own cupcake wrapper with the caution, “It’s a good idea to
save stuff for later use, but only if you keep them in order.”
The
cameraman turned his bright light on and began photographing the two
table displays in the center of the room. Slowly the camera panned
around to record each exhibit along the two walls. One display showed
all the different cables and wires found in computers. There was no
detailed naming or description of the twisted pair power cables, the
data ribbon cable, or any of the other stuff. But each was lined up
with great care. It was like the cable display was to say different
things to different people.
The
next exhibit had two fans, one big and one small. In jerky lettering
and also like a small child uses, the words were written, “To keep
cool, dogs pant, computers have fans, and elephants wave their ears.
But as always, God has saved the best method for mankind that He
loves so dearly.”
Another
display had in big letters, ELECTRIC BUGS. The display showed several
of the little square black parts with tiny wires coming out of them.
To a child, they probably looked a little like centipedes. Continuing
on, the camera recorded displays using about every type of part found
in a computer. It was actually kind of fun to see so much activity
and enjoyment from computers without electricity and without
confusing words and terms.
Trudy
and her silver haired friend, Martha had a problem. They wanted to be
a part of the Parade of Parts but everyone else had used all of the
computer parts. So Martha and Trudy thought of an exhibit that would
be the frosting on the cake; the exhibit that would capitalize on
every other display. A cardboard poster stood behind an open Bible. A
soft pink ribbon touched the Bible reference, John 1:3, ended on the
poster near the words, “God made computers. Use them for Him and
with Him.”
The
camera light was switched off and the equipment lowered to a restful
position. The cameraman’s eyes scanned the whole room and quickly
walked up to the newsperson making notes on her little tablet.
“Heidi! Heidi! These parts are not the story! We’ve been
recording these exhibits of junk computer parts, but they’re not
the story. The news duo viewed each display again, but took renewed
interest of a photograph in each and every display.
Every
photograph showed two people. One person with silver hair or no hair
at all. That person’s eyes told you of their joy in being able to
now use all those left over hugs from the ‘left over’ generation.
The other person was always a young person. The expression on the
youth showed a boatload of questions with no one else having the time
to listen, let alone answer.
The
next day’s newspaper carried a front-page lead-in to an article of
some detail that basically said, “At the nursing home, far better
than a Parade of Parts, was a Parade of Partners. Visit them to see
how the very old and the very young are bonded, by junk – computer
junk.”
A
couple days later Cranky Carson, who’d never give anyone a kind
word, if you paid him, was sitting at the table with little Lulu.
Lulu didn’t seem to belong to anyone but had wandered into the
nursing home, probably just looking for a left-over hug, in spite of
her ragamuffin appearance. Now you really won’t believe it without
witnessing it for yourself, but Cranky was using his softest tones
helping Lulu line up some of the keycaps that had letters on them.
One
of the nurse’s aids said they started out lining up the alphabet
but then spelled words like love and hug and God. Cranky Carson felt
some brand new pride in being able to use some computer stuff but
didn’t have the foggiest idea how to even turn a real one on.
