Didn't You Used To Be Someone? (584 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: Story
Rating: 1.07 on 18 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Beano (View user info) at 2006-08-07 03:39:42 EDT
Didn't you used to be someone?
He used to stand and shout, gesticulate and generally act a bit strange. When you are going to and from school that is all the excuses you needed to ridicule the man.
Another favourite was tapping you on the shoulder and then when he had your attention he would just point at the kerb and hope that you could see what it was that he was seeing. If you stared back blankly at him (which invariable you would) he would just wander off muttering.
Sometimes it was fun to take the Mickey out of him and I have to admit that at others it was quite scary and I'm sure I wouldn't have done it if I wasn't with my friends.
I often used to wonder who he was, this poor wretched sad man who, most likely, should have been somewhere, anywhere where they would have looked after him. He was a danger to himself and quite frankly if the man had any dignity left he would just stay indoors.
Then a few years later, not long after I had left school and grown out of shouting at him I saw an article in the local paper.
You know the sort of paper I mean, front page usually has a story about neighbours feuding because one insists on parking his Granada in the others parking space, or how the local TV repair shop has been burgled for the THIRD time this month. Occasionally some poor 17 year old has crashed his first moped or car and tragically been killed.
Well it was one of the anniversaries of WWI or WWII and I'm bold enough to admit that, at the time, I didn't know which it was.
Anyway, there was this article about JC, the man we used to shout at, the man who allegedly still wandered the streets of the Old Town. He was 'infamous' locally for it.
The Japanese had got a hold of him during the war, he'd been tortured and by all accounts would have been better off had they beheaded him like they did the majority of the POW's he had been encamped with.
Being an officer at that time he was deemed to have valuable information. They tortured him endlessly and it was only the strength and determination of the man that had kept him from uttering a word to them.
Hung upside down for close to two years, beaten daily, abused, starved and violated.
I suddenly thought to myself, my god this man used to be somebody. And I suppose still is.
User Reviews
Submitted by Linus (user info) at 2008-11-29 15:43:53 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Congratulations.
Submitted by EAZEDZT (user info) at 2008-11-22 16:58:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Judgement (user info) at 2008-11-22 16:34:45 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by redskieslookfake (user info) at 2008-07-26 12:52:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by maf54 (user info) at 2008-05-14 05:02:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Just to counter what that idiot Director did to you.
Submitted by Director (user info) at 2008-05-13 17:46:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by ballsonurchin (user info) at 2006-10-26 11:35:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
ur such a fag.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-08-08 17:00:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
fuckin Nip bastards
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2006-08-08 01:36:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
nice.
Submitted by WingedFoote (user info) at 2006-08-08 00:49:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
impressive. both the man and the writing...
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2006-08-07 11:51:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Great use of this title.
Fantastic.
Submitted by firefly (user info) at 2006-08-07 11:39:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Davros (user info) at 2006-08-07 10:25:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I attended college (studying history) with a guy who had been in the Japanese POW camps, which happened to coincide with the period we were studying.
He taught us far more than the lecturer ever did.
-Dave
Submitted by Beano312003 (user info) at 2006-08-07 09:02:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by moneyshotforyou (user info) at 2006-08-07 08:30:29 (#)
Ranking: 2
Damn this was actually good.
Is that you Beano? Is this me?
-----------------------
You sound surprised !?
Submitted by Merlina (user info) at 2006-08-07 08:48:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by moneyshotforyou (user info) at 2006-08-07 08:30:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Damn this was actually good.
Is that you Beano? Is this me?
Submitted by teakettle (user info) at 2006-08-07 06:51:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by jgreening (user info) at 2006-08-07 03:45:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment