My Grandfather

"Don't throw that box away! It can be used to hold some gadgets." My grandfather used to say.

"But we have already saved a lot!" I would respond.

He would demand, "Give it to me. One day eventually you will find an appropriate place for it!"

More than once my grandfather stopped me when I tried to throw away some pieces of junk stealthily, such as water bottles, boxes, and paper. More than once his perfect eloquence just made me give up on throwing those things away and put junk back into its "suitable place" eventually.

This is my grandfather, a Chinese military commander, and also an old man who has experienced the sufferings of the bygones. The past sixty years of his life have helped him develop a habit of keeping everything he thinks is useful. He tries to fit them in any places he can. Surprisingly, these things can always find their position and function pretty well, such as holding small things, supporting a wooden structure on which plants can grow, and operating my bicycle so that it can operate better.

But sometimes, some of these things are nasty. My grandfather also collects used clothes and socks. I barely see him wearing new ones, except for on special occasions. When he is given fashionable clothes, he will just lay them into a drawer. The time he spends looking at those new clothes is more than the time he spends wearing them. If any of us is arguing with him about this issue, he will present a series of principles to show people the importance of having a provident life.

Old people always like to recollect the past. In the last couple centuries, China had been ravaged greatly during the two world wars. The older generation just could not forget about how hard life was when they were little. My mother always told me that when my grandfather was a middle school student, my great-grandfather already had ten children. It was extremely hard for my great-grandparents to feed every one of them in the family. As the second child of this family, finally, my grandfather decided to join the army to share some of the family responsibility.

He worked hard in the military, saved everything he could, and sent it back to help the family out. He also told us that he watched his youngest sister die because she was too little to overcome the lack of food. Also, the family did not have money to see doctors, so his two brothers died of illnesses. Ever since people's lives had started getting better, more and more wasteful behaviors appeared.

My grandfather, who preferred to wear old clothes, save junk, and reuse everything, spent his entire life telling people the meaning of thrift. As a military commander, who