“I will leave after I tell you a story,” replied the good samaritan. He went on to relate the following:

There was a man whose only brother died in early infancy. At age seven he nearly drowned. His mother died when he was only nine years old. When he was ten years old he was kicked by a horse and nearly died. His only sister died giving childbirth.

He was in his mid-twenties before he had his first romance but after a short courtship she dumped him. A few years later he asked his new girlfriend to marry him. She declined. Needing something to take his mind off the rejections, and seeking to earn a living, he obtained a business partner and they opened a store. Within one year the business was nearing bankruptcy. His business partner ran off leaving him to pay the creditors. It took him years to pay off the debt.

With great effort he finally managed to obtain a law degree. His first law partner didn’t work out so they disbanded the partnership. His second law partner ended up the same way.

When he was in his mid-forties, he fell in love with another woman who was from a wealthy family. Things were finally looking better. He courted her for almost two years before he asked her to marry him. She accepted. However, a few months later she told him she didn’t want to marry him anymore. After a few more months she had a change of heart and they were married.

Just when his life seemed to be going much better, his second son died in infancy. His third son also died. Wanting to enter politics, he ran for state legislature twice and lost both times. He also ran for senator twice and lost both elections. Up until this point in his life he considered himself a failure, lived in poverty, and suffered from depression for most of his life.

When he turned fifty he was elected President of the United States. The man’s name was Abraham Lincoln.

We also discussed how technology improved in her lifetime. During her childhood and early adulthood, the only means of transportation involved either walking, a horse or, if you were lucky, a train. By the 1960’s transportation had improved to inter-planetary travel by “spaceships.” Quite a leap in technology!

My regret is that I did not record our conversations or at least take extensive notes. Now all I have is my memories of what she said over 25 years ago.

In 1956 I was 8 years old. My great grandmother came to live with us. She died at age 99 in 1958 when I was ten years old. As I think back now, she had such a wealth of historic information that I never bothered to inquire about. Imagine: she was born in 1857, meaning she was 8 years old when Lincoln was assassinated and 19 years old when the Custer Massacre took place! She too saw rapid advances in technology. Being 8 to 10 years old at the time, of course, I had no interest in history. The questions I could ask her now!

Recently, my memories of these two ladies have come back in bits and pieces. While marveling how much things improved during their lifetime, it made me start thinking of advances in my own lifetime. Take the telephone for instance. As a child I can remember when every telephone call involved utilizing an operator. There were no dials or buttons to push to connect to anyone; just pick up the receiver and wait for an operator to come online and then tell her the number you wanted. Something like MJ87. Today, as you know, we have gone to cellular telephones that are almost as small as a credit card and fit in a pocket. You can not only place calls to other people, but send text messages, play music or movies, and send photos clear across the world if you want to!

Don’t even get me started on the technology of computers and the Internet! I purchased my first computer in 1978. It had only 16K of RAM, no hard drive and utilized 5 ˝ inch black floppy disks that held only 200K of data.

If you look back over your lifetime I am sure you will find that you too have seen many advances in technology. Stop and think about it. The older a person is, the more they know about history because they actually lived it! Get things in perspective. While they are still alive, start asking your parents, grandparents, and other people older than yourself about how life was when they were younger. Don't wait until it is too late.

Though he eventually came into great wealth at the Mount Vernon estate, George Washington was born to more modest roots as a fifth-generation Virginian. Adamant in his desire to climb to higher social circles, he mastered physical skills and rules etiquette, then joined the military in search of the prestigious life of an officer. He gained a good reputation by completing dangerous missions on behalf of the British, but a series of missteps and defeats in 1754 led directly to the onset of the French and Indian War and held Washington up for public ridicule for the first time.

But he stood tall and received a second chance a year later when he assumed battlefield command of the Virginia Militia after its commander had been killed, dodging bullets on the front lines at Monongahela and forever gaining the respect of his men. From there he matured as a commander and helped drive the French from the Ohio Territory before retiring to Mount Vernon at age 27. Little did Washington know at the time that his military life had only just begun.

WASHINGTON THE WARRIOR taps experts, historians, authors, journals, and historical documents to tell the story of the man who spearheaded the American revolution with a fortitude that would not be denied. Authors Joseph J. Ellis, Caroline Cox, Edward G. Lengel, and Bruce Chadwick as well as Lt. Gen. Dave R. Palmer, previously the Superintendent of West Point U.S. Military Academy, headline a list of experts offering insight and perspective on the life, times, and mindset of George Washington.