During the 60's us young sailors lived from one crisis to another crisis. We entered the decade raised in constant fear from the previous decades. We were the product of WW2 (The war to end all wars), the Korean War ( a ruthless enemy that knew no bounds), Russia obtaining nuclear weapons (We learned how to look for chewing gum under our seats in school), The Cuban missile crisis (As I sat off the coast of the Bay of Pigs I wondered is this the start of WW3?). Then along came Viet Nam and Cambodia (Would China join in on the killing fields) Social changes were happening, in ways, a naïve society didn't quite know how to digest. A President and Civil Rights leader assassinated. Riots and civil unrest. Many of us took comfort in the bars and tried to avoid the turmoil. A few of us hung out at this local club and as we drank our brews the events of the day always came up for discussion. We all would chime in our misguided opinions and we all knew we would hear from the bar room philosopher himself "Pudgy " (Bless his soul). Pudgy, just had a way of calming our hysteria. I find my comfort, in todays age, by reading the posts of those here on the Forum. I thought if there was ever a time for a "Pudgy" it would be now. I will start the topics off with the Corona Virus and the economic crash. Feel free to start your own discussion. Let us all call on the spirit of "Pudgy" to bring us some common sense and some peace.
I still haven't decided if all this fear response is warranted or not since mostly it seems to be less deadly in nature than most strains of the flu. But as to that I figure that something is always stalking us one way or the other anyway, and so the trick is to enjoy each day as much as possible until one's final breath. Not a deep philosophy, but maybe it's something that a Pudgy would say . . . at least after tipping back a pitcher of beer.
He really wasn't fat, just a big guy, and always was dressed to the nines. We weren't even a city yet and nicknames for the locals were common. He would have loved listening to you and have some friendly banter.
Last night just before bed I was listening to some old Kenny Rogers and this morning I see he past away. Life is too short. Pudgy would say something like " Yeah! Kenny probably was reading his last statement from his broker and didn't have any money to count and decided too fold it up." "Let's have a round for Kenny"
Seen Elvis three times in person and Kenny was good but he wasn't no Elvis. Elvis came along the same time that I started noticing girls. It was great for dancing those slow songs with the girls but they wouldn't give me the time of day if he was on the movie screen. Pudgy told me the reason why was because I lacked charisma . I asked him what that meant and he said " You know; you ugly".
