Colorado postman’s 60-year tenure on a long, rural route filled with wonder

 

Colorado postman’s 60-year tenure on a long, rural route filled with wonder

Denver Post, 6/26/2017.

93세에 여전히, 콜로라도 Raggeds Widerness 지역 산간벽촌의

우편집배원 일을 즐기는 한 노인  이야기다.

여기 주위에서 보는 미국 노인들에게서, 노인이라고 내세우는 것

같은 유난스러움을 느낀 적이 없었다. 유난스러웠다면 오히려

대하기의 편안함이 그랬다. 그래선지 젊은이들은 노인들에게

기분 좋아질 정도로 깍듯한 것 같다.

나이 들면서 언제부턴가 느릿느릿 걸어야 하면 그냥 그렇게

걸으면 되는 것뿐이다. 마치 다 산 것처럼 행세하는 노인도 못 봤다.

일을 계속하고 싶고 그럴 수 있으면 그렇게 하고, 그냥 쉬고 싶으면

쉬고, 자원봉사도 하고들 그런다.

아래는 위 기사에서 따온 몇 구절이다.

Emory Townsend pulls his Kia Sorento off Colorado 133 near a mailbox and fills it with letters and packages, just as he has twice a week for the last 60 years. He turns his gaze toward the Raggeds Wilderness, its serrated ridges furrowing into lush benches of aspen and spruce.

The ever-jovial 93-year-old storyteller has been delivering letters and packages under the shadow of Ragged Mountain since 1957, long before there was a Colorado 133 or a Raggeds Wilderness.

“It’s such a beautiful trip past the mountains I never tire of,” he says, stopping at every mailbox to share stories with a visitor. “This is something that keeps me young. I guess that’s why I keep doing it.”

“Life sure is different now,” he says. “The most significant change is the change I don’t like. It’s people and their selfishness. There’s too much focus on self-gratification.

“When I grew up, the week’s highlight was Sunday dinner with the neighbors and maybe an afternoon ball game,” he says. “I wonder if people today don’t realize the simple enjoyment of being with friends and being a good friend and being helpful to people is the most gratifying thing in life. It isn’t about making the most money.”

“These 60 years have been quite fantastic and rewarding. Not money-wise but to my life,” he says.

Raggeds Widerness