Poems and Thoughts    by Frank Maurer

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An Elder's Views on Aging, Learned While Living as a Youth, With Men Mentally Crippled from War. One of my Antioch Coop Jobs was in the Ozarks of Missouri, Girdling old oaks to improve the forest with a subclimax of pine. Every day I went out and 'doubled-axed' my way down each long ridge. Winter's snows came and went, then Spring and I saw my first wild lizards! I lodged in a boarding house which catered to several men, Mentally crippled from WWII and Korea-- all unable to cope in society. On weekends, I would spend some time with each, Conversing and interacting as each was able. I built up friendships and learned something about war's effects on them. It made a deep impression on me as a twenty-year-old. So much so, that in graduate school at Cornell, While the brutal Vietnam War was raging, (1966), I declared myself a pacifist, registering with the US government. I was then voted in as President of the Quaker 'Young Friends' organization And led a protest walk across the US/Canadian Peace Bridge. Those men in Missouri, expounding their stories and plights, Have affected me to this day, in the ways I conduct my life's activities. I shall never forget them--I can still picture the face of each one. Frank Maurer 20 August 2025 1430 Hours.