I'm self-quarantined with time on my hands and things on my mind. I was born (1941) just as our country came out of the Great Depression. 1929 to 1939 was the longest and most severe world-wide economic depression ever. The stock market crashed, men lost money that caused such panic that they jumped off tall buildings to end their fear of failure. Their families were left to wonder why fathers and husbands and sons and brothers and uncles and recent millionaires cared so little about anyone else that they chose to end their lives rather than stay and fight back. Banks closed, businesses failed, homes were foreclosed. Banks held mortgages on homes that fell into decay while the previous occupants moved in with willing family members or found shelter in places that allowed the wind and rain and snow to enter through cracks in the roof and walls as the dirt floors froze. People grew hungry, grown men stood in soup lines because hunger feels the same to a doctor, a lawyer or and Indian chief.
That hard decade brought notice that as bad as things were at the beginning of 1929, they were gonna get much worse before they got better.
Would they get better? Panic and fear were with those Americans each day as they awoke and the last thought as they drifted off to sleep. Many couldn't sleep because their stomachs were empty and there was no money for bread.
Worry was a constant companion. Time lay heavy on men while they waited to get a job that paid money. IOU's were just paper. Paper was finally refused as an insult. At the beginning everybody was stunned and talk was constant about what was the government gonna do to bring this country out of the mess it was in.
A coffee table book named A VISION SHARED, A Classic Portrait of America and Its People, page 62, shows a haunting picture taken by FSA photographer Walker Evans of Bud Fields and his family in Hale County Alabama in 1936. The family sits together on the side of a bed and two chairs. The entire family of three adults and three children were dressed in raggedy filthy clothing and one child was dressed in a little shirt only.
Naked and unashamed can be seen in the face of that child. The look was so telling because how can a child know to be ashamed if having nothing to wear is the norm for all its entire lifetime. One pair of shoes in that family was worn by the mother. Bud Fields wore a pair of pants with what looks like long johns underwear showing from the pant legs. Bud Fields has a bandana laid across his neck. Not one member in the family was smiling.
Their eyes showed complete defeat.
Defeat is the killer of the soul. Smiles are brought by comfort and happiness. No comfort, no happiness, what's to smile about? When people are at their lowest, the only direction is up. 1936 in Hale County Alabama was as deep into the Depression as anywhere in America. Loss of hope and plain old loss was the common thread that ran through America.
The Great Depression was the worst of times. Anyone that lived through that hard time has it stamped on their psyche that many never overcame. Many became hoarders because of that experience. Nothing was thrown away, everything had more use. A faded, ragged, worn-out dress could be cut into squares and worked into a quilt. To stay warm is a requirement to survive. A used-up dress that helps with providing warmth never caused a thought of being questionable. History shows us the Greatest Generation overcame the Great Depression with sacrifice, faith in God and trust in each other. Americans doubled up and doubled down.
THEN,
WWII came at us to cause another crisis and testing of Americans belief in ourselves. We won by sacrifice of going without. Ladies gave up wearing their silk stockings so the silk could be made into parachutes. Automobile tires were patched and patches were patched. Ford assembly plants stopped making cars and got refitted to produce war materials. Victory gardens were planted along front door walkways and shared plots of dirt in empty city lots, which sustained us for foods not available otherwise. Rosie the Riveter took off her apron to go into factories to make war machines while her man went to the other side of the world to fight for our freedom. America won the war by pulling together to defeat the horror of Hitler and the Holocaust. God was always in these events because we called on him and ask for guidance, comfort and His blessings. Americans doubled up and doubled down.
THEN,
Today, we Americans are facing the first real hard-core crisis since the Great Depression. Something as unbelievable as a virus has brought the entire world to an economic standstill. Will we Americans stand up and push back against this problem, or will we simply roll over and wait for a handout from the Government. Some don't like being told what to do, but still complain and whine about every single thing that is done to try and contain this health crisis that is bringing death to all of us.
Nobody gets a pass. This virus has no favorites. This isn't a political cause, it isn't a religious cause, it isn't an economic cause. It is a health issue.
BUT,
It has caused all those things to be affected in a way we have never seen in our lifetimes. I have faith in us that we are better than this. I'm doing everything I have been asked to do without complaining. Am I happy about having to change up my way of living and being? Heck no, but to know that if this monster comes knocking on my door, all the above won't be worth a "Tinker’s Damn" when my last breath is sucked out of me by this virus.
To borrow a quote from Patrick Henry and rephrase it, "Now may be a good time to come to the aid of our neighbors." If we will change our habits and think outside ourselves and our self-centered-ness we just may stop this beast in its tracks. If everyone lets go of just one thing that helps in this fight, then think about how much will be accomplished. Come on America, double up and double down.
"I Think I can, I think I can" said The Little Engine That Could.
***If you pray, now is the time to ask God for guidance and the death of this virus. Then thank Him for loving us.***
