Thursday, September 29, 2011

Even as a kid, I talked when I should have listened

Imagine the consternation of my parents when I informed them that I had announced to my first grade class that , "My daddy said that if things didn't get better we will have to go on the Red Cross."  My mom and dad would have starved to death before taking charity, and of course, daddy was not serious when he made the remark. Art Linikletter would years later have a popular radio program, later  on TV, called "Kids  say the darndest things."  And kids do.  If parents could hear their young children  talk about things said and done at home, the parents would blush and look for a hole in which to hide.

The year  was 1932 and the depression was destroying the American people.  In one weekend we had gone from being  a comfortable farm family with no debts and money in the bank to huge indebtedness and not a cent. All over the nation as banks closed families lost their homes  and even their farms. Unemployment in 1929 was about 1.5 million, a rate of 3.2, increasing to 4.4 million in 1930; to 8.6 million  the next year, and to more than 12 million and a 24 per cent rate in 1932.  The Red Cross and Salvation Army were among those organizations  trying to feed the needy, but many people starved to death.  Conditions were bad on farms because no one had money to buy the products, but life was much worse in cities, where people fought over scraps in garbage cans.  The story is told of a pale, sickly girl being told to go home from school and eat something. She said she couldn't; it was her sister's turn to eat that day.  I had a friend who lived in New York City during this time, and he said his family lived out of garbage cans.  His younger sister died of hunger and related sickness.

There is no reason we should see those times again, but we could unless this country demands and gets better leadership.

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