9 aWhich I never thought of as a bunch of greedy white men killing Indians and negroes and gooks and all that,
10 Because what I thought of instead was my country,
11 And the hills and willows and millponds,
12 And the others like me who lived there,
13 And the others like me who loved their country,
14 Which was maybe desert or mountains or prairies or beaches or small towns or even cities,
15 But who were like me anyway,
16 Because they were willing to let me live my life in my country,
17 And try not to get in my way,
18 bIf I tried not to get in theirs,
19 Except that I guess a lot of us were getting in some other people's way,
20 Including black folks,
21 cWhich I had only thought of as old Ben who delivered the wood and made wreaths at Christmas time,
22 And never thought for even a second that it was strange he never once came to dinner,
23 Although it seems to me that he never thought it was strange either,
24 But just the way things were,
25 Which must be wrong,
26 Or why did so many people of Ben's race get so fired up about riding in the front of the bus?
CHAPTER 111 I'm just an old man,
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2 And I've been wrong about a lot of things in my life,
3 So it shouldn't surprise me that I missed so much,
4 But I guess I did,
5 And I wish someone had set me straight sooner,
6 Because I still can't seem to figure it all out,
7 dAnd I still don't know why all the smart people look at things the way they do,
8 And why we can't just learn about our mistakes as we go,
9 And fix them up as best we can,
10 And keep going,
11 Until someday things are a lot better than they ever were,
12 Which is sort of what I always thought history was about,
13 eBecause when I used to read about the past in school,
14 It seemed like my life was a lot better,
15 And people were better nowadays than they used to be,
16 Or if not better, smarter,
17 fLike with medicine,
18 gAnd tractors and cars and such,
19 hAnd electricity,
20 And the American Way,
21 Because they didn't used to be able to vote kings and emperors out of office when they turned out to be no good,
22 And when kings and emperors weren't any good,
23 iIt seemed like they could get away with a lot more than even Roosevelt ever did,
24 But what do I know,
25 jAnd who am I to say,
26 But an old man,
27 With a bad memory,
28 That's full of lies anyway.
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