The Time Traveler? And More Stories :)

[NoelW]

It was 1989

I stopped at the Blue Benn Diner in Bennington, Vermont to have a cup of coffee while waiting for some friends to meet me there. I would be their houseguest for the next few days. Being lunch time the diner was crowded and so I sat at the counter next to an old man with scraggly hair and beard. His face looked familiar to me, but since I hadn’t been in Bennington for over fifteen years, I didn’t think it likely I had ever met him.
I couldn’t help but notice the old man kept blessing everyone. He blessed the waitress who brought him his lunch. He blessed the little boy who caused his worn-out coat to fall to the floor. He blessed the boy's father who retrieved his coat from the floor. He blessed a lady who accidentally bumped him with her elbow while struggling to get into her own coat. He blessed a man who sneezed, who was seated some distance away from him. And he blessed me when I thanked him for handing me the sugar dispenser.
Well, I must confess I thought his shower of blessings were a bit superfluous. I also began to think he was not quite right in the head.
But, I thanked him again and said,
"You're certainly generous with blessings today."
"Oh yes," he said. "I try never to miss an opportunity to bless someone."
"That's nice," I said. And I thought it really was, but I also thought our conversation had ended.
"Selfish, I suppose..." the old man continued.
"What’s selfish?" I asked.
"Blessing people." He answered.
And then he added, "You see, I believe whenever I bless somebody the blessing returns to me."
"I see," I said, "sort of like what goes around comes around."
"Exactly," he said, and then went on to say, "The ancients considered a blessing to be a priceless gift. They loved to voice their blessings and predict what good would come to those whom they blessed. They also believed to condemn or criticize a person or situation would only bring about more problems and unhappy experiences. Whereas, if they took the opposite approach and blessed the person or situation it would activate the omnipresent good within it, and witness a happy result from it."
I took a moment to consider what he said and then I asked, "Where did you learn that?"
The old man smiled to himself and then replied, "I learned that many years ago from a man named Emmet Fox."
I had to admit that I had never heard of Emmet Fox. So, of course, I asked, "Who is Emmet Fox?"
The old man looked at me with some surprise (which, suddenly made me feel stupid) and then he answered, "He was an author and one of the most brilliant and advanced minds of his day."
"Oh," I said. While making a mental note to do some research about Mr. Fox.
"Oh yes," continued the old man, "Emmet Fox once said, and I quote, ‘Bless a thing and it will bless you. Curse it and it will curse you. If you put your condemnation upon anything in life, it will hit back at you and hurt you. If you bless a situation, it has no power to hurt you, and even if it is troublesome for a time, it will gradually fade out, if you sincerely bless it.'"
"Well," I said, "I'll be sure to do some research on Emmet Fox."

Having finished my cup of coffee I decided to wait for my friends outside in my car.
I left a five dollar bill on the counter for the waitress, thanked the old man for our conversation and started for the door. But, then I felt compelled to go back to where he was seated and say, "Bless you."
The old man winked, took hold of my hand and said, "No, Bless you!"
We both laughed.

When my friends arrived to the Diner I told them about the conversation I had with the old man.
One of them smiled and said, "You know who he is, don't you?"
I said I didn't, but admitted he looked familiar to me.
"Why, that's Van Johnson," my friend said. “He quite often comes to stay with friends who have a farm in nearby Shaftsbury. He’s also a regular at the Diner. He sort of drives people cuckoo with his blessings of this, that, and the other thing.” And then with a laugh added, “I’m pretty sure by now he’s blessed every cow and maple tree in the entire State of Vermont!”

© T.N.W.

Charles Van Dell Johnson (August 25, 1916 – December 12, 2008) was an American film and television actor and dancer. He was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during and after World War II. Johnson was the embodiment of the "boy-next-door wholesomeness (that) made him a popular Hollywood star in the '40s and '50s," playing "the red-haired, freckle-faced soldier, sailor or bomber pilot who used to live down the street" in MGM films during the war years, with such films as Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, A Guy Named Joe, and The Human Comedy. Johnson made occasional World War II films through the end of the 1960s, and played a military officer in one of his final feature films, in 1992. According to his wife of over twenty years, he was also a homosexual. At the time of his death in December 2008, he was one of the last surviving matinee idols of Hollywood's "golden age".

Emmet Fox (July 30, 1886 – August 13, 1951) was a New Thought spiritual leader of the early 20th century, famous for his large Divine Science church services held in New York City during the Great Depression. Fox was born in Ireland. His father, who died before Fox was ten, was a physician and member of Parliament. Fox attended St Ignatius' College, a Jesuit secondary school near Stamford Hill. He became an electrical engineer. However, he discovered early that he had healing power, and from the time of his late teens studied New Thought. He came to know the prominent New Thought writer Thomas Troward. Fox attended the London meeting at which the International New Thought Alliance was organized in 1914. He gave his first New Thought talk in Mortimer Hall in London in 1928. Soon he went to the United States, and in 1931 was selected to become the successor to James Murray as the minister of New York's Divine Science Church of the Healing Christ. Fox became immensely popular, and spoke to large church audiences during the Depression, holding weekly services for up to 5,500 people at the New York Hippodrome until 1938 and subsequently at Carnegie Hall. He was ordained in the Divine Science branch of New Thought. Fox's secretary was the mother of one of the men who worked with Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill W., and partly as a result of this connection early AA groups often went to hear Fox. His writing, especially "The Sermon on the Mount," became popular in AA. Several pamphlets "The Golden Key," and "The Seven Main Aspects of God" are also widely read.

[NoelW]

Back in the day porches were an integral part of the American way of life. More specifically I'm referring to the people who spent countless hours sitting on their porches with their parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles. Sometimes a neighbor would stop by. Lots of times it was a combination of relatives, friends and neighbors. Instead of video games, cell phones, social media, or TV, THIS was where you learned everything about life. You listened to stories.


You gleaned pearls of wisdom, as well as you developed a sense of humor. You learned how to properly communicate and interact with other people in a respectful way. Topics of conversation ranged from A-Z. It was truly a non-condemnation zone. When we were younger, some of us had the benefit of multi -generational inputs. I was lucky to have had the benefit of both parents, grandparents, siblings, and many aunts and uncles - some of whom lived with us for brief periods of time. My parents house was always bustling with people, activity, chatter, and lots of love and laughter.


I was also lucky in that my parents house had two full-length front porches (at ground level and second story), a back porch, and an additional 16 x 24 foot screened-in porch, which my dad built above the garage. The porches were where people gathered to sit and chat after dinner. Or just to have a cup of coffee or a glass of lemonade on a lazy afternoon. My mother especially loved the screened-in porch. She furnished it with a sofa, several comfortable chairs, a table & chair set, and a full-size bed. From April to November of each year she slept ‘out there.’ She enjoyed all types of weather, but particularly liked a good storm and the sound of the rain falling on the tin roof.
During the Summer months there was scarcely a day when my grandmother didn’t ‘hold court’ on her front porch, where she sat to knit or crochet and offer tea and cookies to anyone who happened to stop by to chat. She had dozens of friends who were always coming and going. But, it didn’t matter to her if you were a child or an adult, she enjoyed conversing with people of all ages.
I don’t think there’s anyone alive today who doesn’t regret having paid more attention to their elders. Trust me, there's absolutely nothing that exists today to take the place of being surrounded by people who have more experience, knowledge, and wisdom, as well as your best interests at heart.


Those who didn't listen to their folks on the porch, but sought the opinions of people with questionable agendas are really lost now. It's not too late to get back to the porches and restart the heart of America the way it once was. LISTEN to what your elders say, whether you agree with them or not. You can discuss things, but remember the ratio of ‘two ears to one mouth.’ Down the road, when ‘the more you learn, the more you'll agree’ strikes, you won't be deprived of their truth and knowledge. And remember this, “When an elder dies, a library is lost forever.”

© T.N.W.

[NoelW]

A Sunday Driver

During the summer of 2015 I worked a part-time job at an Antiques Shop in Eagle Bridge, New YorK, which is located approximately 25 miles from where I lived in Bennington, Vermont. The route between Eagle Bridge and Bennington has a lot of twists and turns, but parts of it are long, striaght, stretches of road for as far as your eye can see.
When I was driving home one Sunday afternoon, I noticed a car in my rear view mirror. It was of particular interest to me, because it was an older model and I've always had a passion for antique and vintage cars. As it approached closer and closer behind me, I was able to identify it as a 1958 Red & Black Mercury Montclair. It was identical to the Mercury Montclair my Aunt Jean had bought in 1958.
I began to get annoyed when the driver of the Mercury started to tailgate me and blow its horn. The driver was obviously trying to goad me into driving faster, but I was determined to maintain the speed linit of 50 mph. When I finally came to a long stretch of road, the Mercury pulled out from behind my car and passed me by like a speeding bullet. It was then when I noticed the driver was a woman wuth red hair and that she was wearing white-framed sunglasses. She smiled and waved to me as she zoomed on by. In the zetosecond it took for her car to pass mine, I realized she looked exactly like my Aunt Jean. After she passed me, she pulled the Mercury back into the right lane and slowed it down a bit. But, as I followed her car around the next bend it seemed to have disappeared. Beyond the bend the road straigtened out again, so it would have been impossible for me not to have seen her car on the road ahead of me. But it was gone. Out of sight. As if it had vanished into thin air. My Aunt Jean died in 1997, but I've never been convinced she hadn't decided to take her Mercury out for a spin that Sunday afternnon.

[BigJohn]

Your accounts brought up an acount I exoerienced back on April 5, 1987. I was traveling westward on the New York Thruway. About 10:50, I became concerned there were no cars behind me. I slowed down very slowly and still, no cars showed up. Part of a bridge had collapsed after I went over it. The next cars fell 80 feet straight down. I wonder how many angels were watching over me that day?

Wow very quite Luxky buddy!!

Ya it IS interestingn is isnt it??

Like a doorway to the past OPENING FOR SO LONG AND THEN CLOSING......

[desert rat]

I read the first story and part of the secound enough to know I heard it before . Part of a YT video as I remember . I will read the rest over time . A highly shortned story I read in the Nat. Enq news paper in the mid 70s . A man is on leave from the service visits a major American city .The city looks like stuff did many year ago . He meets this rally nice lady about his age . Lets call her Marry They spend some time togher . He relly likes her . After his leave is over he tells her I will be back to see you in about 6 months when my time in the service is up . Many make plans for the future . She agrees . When he gets back the city looks run down . He asks for Mary no one know who she is . Finly he meets this old man he says I knew her . She died of old age many years ago . Ghost , time travel , a goofy paper printing stories just to bost views ? who knows .

Wow, these stories are interesting.