One of the quiet pleasures of blogging is reading the comments from readers. Every now and then, someone writes something so poignant, so unexpected, that it deserves a post of its own.
My friend Jeffrey did just that when he commented on my blog, A Nazi Dagger. His story moved me deeply—and I’d like to share it with you here, in mine and Jeffrey’s words.
Years ago, when I was living in Atlanta, I went to buy my first serious sound system. The store was called High Fidelity SSS—SSS for Sight and Sound Systems. It was owned by a man named Lee Kramer, well known in the area for his classical music show on public radio. He taught listeners about symphonies and sonatas, but also found a way to plug his store during every broadcast.
Naturally, I ended up at Kramer’s, picked out my equipment, and headed to the register.
Lee was behind the counter. He looked me over carefully, eyes scanning me as if they could calculate my credit score on sight.
“Do you have a charge card or a charge plate?” he asked.
“No,” I said, “but I can write you a check.”
At that, his face clouded.
“I don’t know who you are,” he said flatly. “I’ll need to see some additional identification.”
So I pulled out my wallet and began fishing out every bit of ID. I had—driver’s license, Social Security card, voter registration, you name it. I laid them on the counter, one after the other.
That’s when I noticed the tears.
Lee’s hands froze. His eyes welled up. He looked down at the papers and then at me.
“I’m sorry,” he said, voice cracking. “I’m a Holocaust survivor. I escaped from Germany in 1938. When I reached the Swiss border, they stopped me. I didn’t have the right documents.”
I was speechless.
“I begged them,” he continued. “I emptied my pockets, threw down every scrap of paper I had, pleading, ‘Are any of these good enough?’”
He paused, eyes distant.
“And then, the guard looked at me and smiled. He said, ‘Yeah. It’s good enough.’ And he let me in.”
Lee wiped his face, collected himself, and smiled.
“Take it,” he said, pushing the receipt toward me. “Enjoy it. Have a good life.”
Jeffrey closed his comment with these words of wisdom:
“Many incidents in our lives remain with us, hidden deep in our memory banks, just needing a trigger to free them. Whether it’s a Nazi dagger, a Mauser rifle, or just a pile of I.D. papers on a counter. It’s funny how the mind works—and how some things, we never forget.”
Thumbs up:
Effie
Shelley
Joanne
Perry
Sue
Karyl
Jeffrey
Adam
Cary
Laurie
Marianne
Candace, Thanks for sharing
Sampson
Pete
Joe
Paula
