Car Nut
Well-Known Member
The Old Man and a Bucket of Shrimp
This is a wonderful story and it is TRUE, you will be glad that you read it.
It happened every Friday evening, almost without fail, when the sun resembled a giant orange
and was starting to dip into the blue ocean.
Old Ed came strolling along the beach to his favorite pier. Clutched in his bony hand was a bucket of shrimp.
Ed walks out to the end of the pier, where it seems he almost has the world to himself. The glow of the sun is
a golden bronze now.
Everybody is gone, except for a few joggers and detectorists on the beach. Standing out on the end of the pier,
Ed is alone with his thoughts...and his bucket of shrimp.
Before long, however, he is no longer alone. Up in the sky a thousand white dots come screeching and squawking,
winging their way toward that lanky frame standing there on the end of the pier.
Before long, dozens of seagulls have enveloped him, their wings fluttering and flapping wildly. Ed stands there tossing
shrimp to the hungry birds. As he does, if you listen closely, you can hear him say with a smile, 'Thank you. Thank
you.'
In a few short minutes the bucket is empty. But Ed doesn't leave. He stands there lost in thought, as though transported
to another time and place.
When he finally turns around and begins to walk back toward the beach, a few of the birds hop along the pier with him
until he gets to the stairs, and then they, too, fly away. And old Ed quietly makes his way down to the end of the beach
and on home.
If you were sitting there on the pier with your fishing line in the water, Ed might seem like 'a funny old duck,' as my dad
used to say. Or, to onlookers, he is just another old codger, lost in his own weird world, feeding the seagulls with a bucket
full of shrimp.
To the onlooker, rituals can look either very strange or very empty. They can seem altogether unimportant....maybe even
a lot of nonsense.
Old folks often do strange things, at least in the eyes of Boomers and Busters.
Most of them would probably write Old Ed off, down there in Florida ... That's too bad. They'd do well to know him better.
His full name: Eddie Rickenbacker. He was a famous hero in World War I, and then he was in WWII. On one of his flying
missions across the Pacific, he and his seven-member crew went down. Miraculously, all of the men survived, crawled out
of their plane, and climbed into a life raft.
Captain Rickenbacker and his crew floated for days on the rough waters of the Pacific. They fought the sun. They fought
sharks. Most of all, they fought hunger and thirst. By the eighth day their rations ran out. No food. No water. They were
hundreds of miles from land and no one knew where they were or even if they were alive. Every day across America
millions wondered and prayed that Eddie Rickenbacker might somehow be found alive.
The men adrift needed a miracle. That afternoon they had a simple devotional service and prayed for a miracle.
They tried to nap. Eddie leaned back and pulled his military cap over his nose. Time dragged on. All he could hear was
the slap of the waves against the raft...suddenly Eddie felt something land on the top of his cap. It was a seagull!
Old Ed would later describe how he sat perfectly still, planning his next move. With a flash of his hand and a squawk from
the gull, he managed to grab it and wring its neck. He tore the feathers off, and he and his starving crew made a meal of it
- a very slight meal for eight men. Then they used the intestines for bait. With it, they caught fish, which gave them food and
more bait....and the cycle continued. With that simple survival technique, they were able to endure the rigors of the sea until
they were found and rescued after 24 days at sea.
Eddie Rickenbacker lived many years beyond that ordeal, but he never forgot the sacrifice of that first life-saving seagull...
And he never stopped saying, 'Thank you.' That's why almost every Friday night he would walk to the end of the pier with a
bucket full of shrimp and a heart full of gratitude.
Reference: (Max Lucado, "In The Eye of the Storm", pp...221, 225-226)
PS: Eddie Rickenbacker was the founder of Eastern Airlines. Before WWI he was race car driver. In WWI he was a pilot and
became America 's first ace. In WWII he was an instructor and military adviser, and he flew missions with the combat pilots.
Eddie Rickenbacker is a true American hero. And now you know another story about the trials and sacrifices that brave men have endured for your freedom.
PPS: If you are ever in Miami FL, you may have occasion to drive from Miami to Miami Beach on the Rickenbacker Causeway,
named after this great American hero.
As you can see, I chose to pass it on. It is a great story that many don't know...You've got to be careful with old codgers;
you just never know what they have done during their lifetime.
This is a wonderful story and it is TRUE, you will be glad that you read it.
It happened every Friday evening, almost without fail, when the sun resembled a giant orange
and was starting to dip into the blue ocean.
Old Ed came strolling along the beach to his favorite pier. Clutched in his bony hand was a bucket of shrimp.
Ed walks out to the end of the pier, where it seems he almost has the world to himself. The glow of the sun is
a golden bronze now.
Everybody is gone, except for a few joggers and detectorists on the beach. Standing out on the end of the pier,
Ed is alone with his thoughts...and his bucket of shrimp.
Before long, however, he is no longer alone. Up in the sky a thousand white dots come screeching and squawking,
winging their way toward that lanky frame standing there on the end of the pier.
Before long, dozens of seagulls have enveloped him, their wings fluttering and flapping wildly. Ed stands there tossing
shrimp to the hungry birds. As he does, if you listen closely, you can hear him say with a smile, 'Thank you. Thank
you.'
In a few short minutes the bucket is empty. But Ed doesn't leave. He stands there lost in thought, as though transported
to another time and place.
When he finally turns around and begins to walk back toward the beach, a few of the birds hop along the pier with him
until he gets to the stairs, and then they, too, fly away. And old Ed quietly makes his way down to the end of the beach
and on home.
If you were sitting there on the pier with your fishing line in the water, Ed might seem like 'a funny old duck,' as my dad
used to say. Or, to onlookers, he is just another old codger, lost in his own weird world, feeding the seagulls with a bucket
full of shrimp.
To the onlooker, rituals can look either very strange or very empty. They can seem altogether unimportant....maybe even
a lot of nonsense.
Old folks often do strange things, at least in the eyes of Boomers and Busters.
Most of them would probably write Old Ed off, down there in Florida ... That's too bad. They'd do well to know him better.
His full name: Eddie Rickenbacker. He was a famous hero in World War I, and then he was in WWII. On one of his flying
missions across the Pacific, he and his seven-member crew went down. Miraculously, all of the men survived, crawled out
of their plane, and climbed into a life raft.
Captain Rickenbacker and his crew floated for days on the rough waters of the Pacific. They fought the sun. They fought
sharks. Most of all, they fought hunger and thirst. By the eighth day their rations ran out. No food. No water. They were
hundreds of miles from land and no one knew where they were or even if they were alive. Every day across America
millions wondered and prayed that Eddie Rickenbacker might somehow be found alive.
The men adrift needed a miracle. That afternoon they had a simple devotional service and prayed for a miracle.
They tried to nap. Eddie leaned back and pulled his military cap over his nose. Time dragged on. All he could hear was
the slap of the waves against the raft...suddenly Eddie felt something land on the top of his cap. It was a seagull!
Old Ed would later describe how he sat perfectly still, planning his next move. With a flash of his hand and a squawk from
the gull, he managed to grab it and wring its neck. He tore the feathers off, and he and his starving crew made a meal of it
- a very slight meal for eight men. Then they used the intestines for bait. With it, they caught fish, which gave them food and
more bait....and the cycle continued. With that simple survival technique, they were able to endure the rigors of the sea until
they were found and rescued after 24 days at sea.
Eddie Rickenbacker lived many years beyond that ordeal, but he never forgot the sacrifice of that first life-saving seagull...
And he never stopped saying, 'Thank you.' That's why almost every Friday night he would walk to the end of the pier with a
bucket full of shrimp and a heart full of gratitude.
Reference: (Max Lucado, "In The Eye of the Storm", pp...221, 225-226)
PS: Eddie Rickenbacker was the founder of Eastern Airlines. Before WWI he was race car driver. In WWI he was a pilot and
became America 's first ace. In WWII he was an instructor and military adviser, and he flew missions with the combat pilots.
Eddie Rickenbacker is a true American hero. And now you know another story about the trials and sacrifices that brave men have endured for your freedom.
PPS: If you are ever in Miami FL, you may have occasion to drive from Miami to Miami Beach on the Rickenbacker Causeway,
named after this great American hero.
As you can see, I chose to pass it on. It is a great story that many don't know...You've got to be careful with old codgers;
you just never know what they have done during their lifetime.
