The history research which requires to write the first hand story of an elderly person who have spent his life in the New York City. The story is about our neighbor who had spent his last 78 years in this neighborhood. His life is comprising of many delighted and dark experiences. According to him had had loved, grieved but never hate someone. He is famous for telling stories of his early childhood to young life and all the historical event happened in the past and what people thought during that time. When I asked it is the requirement for my research paper to talk to him about his life in New York City, he surely was delighted to know and made sure that he will tell his firsthand experiences during the different times which have come and past in the history. During our conversation, I recorded points of all the answers so that I could explain them because word by word recording made him uncomfortable. Also, I even noted down few of the historical aspects for the reference while asking him the questions so that it will be easy for him to answer and I would be able to record all historical events according to his experience.
So, he started his life story by giving the distant information during the time of long hours of doing nothing with gathering of friends and relatives which is rare now. He mentioned the crowded houses because during that time in his early childhood people used to have big families and they lived together. The other significant thing he mentioned was there wasn’t antibiotics at that time when he got injured while paying but the good and happy memories were mostly attributed to streetcars and all the fun they used to have on those streetcars. He told about his father that despite that fact that things were not that expensive but the salaries were also low. His father was a laborer in the factory which made the electronics and the work was dangerous which made his mother always worried for his health and wellbeing. The wage was low that was annoying factor which made his father always annoyed and angry when we was in the home. He used to go to school and came home to find his mother working in the kitchen, making lunch and talking to the women in neighbor through windows. Their conversation were mostly about the war which is soon going to happen and the conversation goes round and round talking about other people and what they are up to which wasn’t pleasant for him to hear while eating his food. He remember his toys, the sports he used to play during those times and how much he hated being called home during the evenings when his father back from office time was near. That time spent doing the homework and his mother while sipping tea pretending to watch Television but actually she waits for his father who even would be mad and tired of working all day but my father was worried about the rumors of war which will soon take him away.
He told me that at time mostly his parents would argue on one thing and that was his mother wish to work by doing any job. The government recently passed the law which gives the right to women to work and have equal salary but his father was still reluctant because the changes in culture is still not being done. But soon, his mother found a job in a school to teach children. Despite the fact that law suggests all the employers to give equal salary but still her mother would told her friends from neighbor they don’t pay her as much as they pay male colleagues. But that didn’t worry him, according to him he was more concerned about who will serve him lunch if his mother would not be home. His grant parents who were supportive enough to take care of him but he still used to miss his mother. The grandparents of him were living couple of blocks away and his grandfather had to work small jobs because at that time there were not social security which can take care old people living at that time. His grandmother whom he didn’t remember about much was an old and quiet women who died when he was still a small kid. All those movies were mostly about the winning of war and the glorification of America. Those movies were giving messages the hard times people saw and the Russian and Arabs were bad people. I had many friends from both the countries so I used to feel that no everyone was the same. These were his words when explaining the movies and media. The culture of libraries were really on the peak. He had half of his teenage life in the library siting and reading books. When I asked about his interests in book she mentioned mostly romantic novels like The Great Gatsby he loved the most reading.
The most beautiful thing which he considered the most and missed the most was the crowded homes and big families. He had 7 siblings and all his uncles and aunts used to visit during the weekends. He misses this culture a lot and all the travels which he had during his early age visiting relatives and the togetherness. He looked sad when he was explaining his experience with his relatives because now he said people don’t get along much with each other and even his own children living far away. One for the studies and the other got married and moved out. He had a beautiful life which he remember most of the time and recall by telling the stories to people him meet and greet. The stories were mostly about the towns he visited, people he met, shows he attended, all the loves, betray and sad events in his life taught him plenty of things.
The most significant event which remember the most was the time of world war 2 which took his two elder brother because he was a little kid and was not allowed to attend the war. But his two brothers who went to fight on behalf of America died in that war. This event had really devastated his whole family even though they were high in spirits to protect the liberty of America but loosing loved ones were not an easy thing to experience. He was a child during that time and he expressed that every night he prayed that the war could just stop when he wakes up and his brothers comes home whom his mother misses the most. The starting was not that much difficult because his parents convinced both of his brother not to go to war but all of their friends who were leaving one by one influenced the spirit of his brothers.
The conversation then revolved around regarding his teenage, his education and transportation to the school. The only thing about his school which he misses the most was his first love which was a pleasurable moment when we were talking. He laughed and smiled and told me all about it which really made me delighted. The woman he loved at first sight which according him was the prettiest girl in the school who also travelled with him to school and during their affair they bunked classes and roam around the city and parks. She moved to another town and that’s how they had stop seeing each other and he said even though he wasn’t able to spend his life with that girl which broke his heart during that time but now as remembering that time he felt happy and delighted because he was just a 12 years kid. He wasn’t an immigrant and spent all his life in America but he felt sorry for people who had to go through such hard times leaving their own country and coming to America. He told me about his one friend who migrated from Germany and that boy became his best friend. The stories which that friend of him shared to him was dreadful things which turned his nights into nightmares.
The changes during that time were happened really quickly because it was the right after the World War 2 ended and people was coming back from the war. There were stores all around about the war and how they survived and they were asking about people who were living back here in the America. The music and media changed which he observed was really amusing. They used to watch movies on open theaters and sitting in the cars watching those movies. All those movies were mostly about the winning of war and the glorification of America. Those movies were giving messages the hard times people saw and the Russian and Arabs were bad people. I had many friends from both the countries so I used to feel that no everyone was the same. These were his words when explaining the movies and media. The culture of libraries were really on the peak. He had half of his teenage life in the library siting and reading books. When I asked about his interests in book she mentioned mostly romantic novels like The Great Gatsby he loved the most reading.
As following the provided instructions I asked him about all the events which are mentioned. The World War 2 and after that the Vietnam War which he had mixed reviews. He only emphasized on the fact that he was against the Wars because of losing the loved ones devastated the families of those people. He mentioned it was all about the power which America was trying to show after winning the World War 2. But the other significant even which had happened in his life comes right into the 9/11 which had made him sad about the fact that people are using religion to kill others. The religion topic was not interesting for him which made me think he is not a religious person like all the old people. He had spent his life a liberal man according to him. He participated in all the protests which were against the wars and in the rights of women and people of different races. The financial crisis according to him not really affected his career because his job was simple but the rise of rates nearly took his house away because he was unable to provide to his family. The lives of the old people are now easy as compared to his parents and his grandparents because he had social security which is providing him enough to spend the remaining of his life. I asked him about the Mayor of New City and he only told me about the Bloomberg whom he thing is doing a good job. According to him, it’s the first mayor who is doing his rather only playing the politics. The duty of mayor is to do your job by providing the justice to people who are hoping well from that mayor. All the others just wasted the times people by speeches and spending all time playing politics.
At this age of life, he mostly spend his life reading books and watching television. He had the conflict with his children regarding the studies and not giving enough time to things which are worth full to do rather wasting it. He said despite the fact he loved them the most but still their busy lives are no longer accommodating him. The old age homes which are for old people, he said he will never go there but will die just like that healthy and walking. The condition of his fellow friends were miserable he told me that they were not happy there. After this he started mentioning the mistakes he had made in his life which he had given them to his children as well. The lesson of leadership for always act confident because he realized what made him scared that what people will think now not even matter to him. The career he had as clerk in the post office made him learn that every job can help you learn things which are worthwhile to engage in and turn every work to help others. Then came the married life which he said he is sure was more than enough for him to make him happy. He suggested to continuously tell your spouse that you love them and whenever forget to use thank you and sorry terms because these will always give strength to your relationships. The life in New York is fast now and everyone is busy so taking out the time for people we love.
In conclusion, the life which he led was full of experiences and all the things which he told during the interview really helped gaining the information regarding all changes which took place since that time. The simple facts he mentioned like, he is famous for telling stories of his early childhood to young life and all the historical event happened in the past and what people thought during that time. When I asked it is the requirement for my research paper to talk to him about his life in New York City, he surely was delighted to know and made sure that he will tell his firsthand experiences during the different times which have come and past in the history. The wage was low that was annoying factor which made his father always annoyed and angry when we was in the home. He used to go to school and came home to find his mother working in the kitchen, making lunch and talking to the women in neighbor through windows. Their conversation were mostly about the war which is soon going to happen and the conversation goes round and round talking about other people and what they are up to which wasn’t pleasant for him to hear while eating his food. His mother found a job in a school to teach children. Despite the fact that law suggests all the employers to give equal salary but still her mother would told her friends from neighbor they don’t pay her as much as they pay male colleagues. His grandmother whom he didn’t remember about much was an old and quiet women who died when he was still a small kid. He had 7 siblings and all his uncles and aunts used to visit during the weekends. He misses this culture a lot and all the travels which he had during his early age visiting relatives and the togetherness. He looked sad when he was explaining his experience with his relatives because now he said people don’t get along much with each other and even his own children living far away. One for the studies and the other got married and moved out. His teenage, his education and transportation to the school. The only thing about his school which he misses the most was his first love which was a pleasurable moment when we were talking. He laughed and smiled and told me all about it which really made me delighted. The woman he loved at first sight which according him was the prettiest girl in the school who also travelled with him to school and during their affair they bunked classes and roam around the city and parks. The lives of the old people are now easy as compared to his parents and his grandparents because he had social security which is providing him enough to spend the remaining of his life. I asked him about the Mayor of New City and he only told me about the Bloomberg whom he thing is doing a good job. According to him, it’s the first mayor who is doing his rather only playing the politics. They used to watch movies on open theaters and sitting in the cars watching those movies. All those movies were mostly about the winning of war and the glorification of America. He said despite the fact he loved his children the most but still their busy lives are no longer accommodating him. Also, the sad part of the interview was how much he miss his children and friends and his family at this stage of life. The cultural change which took place made the lives of people sad and took loved ones away. He had a beautiful life which he remember most of the time and recall by telling the stories to people him meet and greet. The stories were mostly about the towns he visited, people he met, shows he attended, all the loves, betray and sad events in his life taught him plenty of things.
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