And once my father saved a man's life?!?
Just recently found out something about Dad that surprised me. Some of you may remember my once commenting on how my father lost all feeling his his feet after an accident at the Bethlehem Steel where some molten steel splashed onto the floor. It was just enough to form a layer on the floor, and it ran under his feet (he had work boots on). He said he felt a moment of pain and then nothing at all. Not even later, when the disbelieveing Steel dispensary doctor literally peeled a layer of dead and blistered skin off the bottom of his feet.
It turned out there was more to it than Dad said. The reason he didn't run was because another guy next to him was falling when the steel ran, and would have gone face first into it. Even if the steel had cooled down a second later he'd have had his face laying in molten metal. So Dad didn't run. he just grabbed the guy and threw him far enough to get out of range (not very far) and then got burned himself.
Okay, it's not exactly Superman-level heroics, but still... It's more than I thought he'd ever done. Now I find myself wondering what else my parents, or aunts and uncles, might have done that I'll never know about because they simply didn't speak of it (humility is or at least was a BIG virtue in Pennsylvania Dutch culture; tooting your own horn was viewed as the height of sinful and tasteless arrogance).
Is it normal to find your respect for your parents growing even after they're dead?
It turned out there was more to it than Dad said. The reason he didn't run was because another guy next to him was falling when the steel ran, and would have gone face first into it. Even if the steel had cooled down a second later he'd have had his face laying in molten metal. So Dad didn't run. he just grabbed the guy and threw him far enough to get out of range (not very far) and then got burned himself.
Okay, it's not exactly Superman-level heroics, but still... It's more than I thought he'd ever done. Now I find myself wondering what else my parents, or aunts and uncles, might have done that I'll never know about because they simply didn't speak of it (humility is or at least was a BIG virtue in Pennsylvania Dutch culture; tooting your own horn was viewed as the height of sinful and tasteless arrogance).
Is it normal to find your respect for your parents growing even after they're dead?