When I was Young©
Posted: Wednesday, November 16, 2011
by Arlene Wright-Correll
http://www.learn-america.com
When I was young I thought I would never grow old. I thought times were tough many times and that I had it rough and many times they were since I often did have it rough. However, upon reflection I see that life was normal for those times in the mid 1930’s at least for the area where I lived.
Further reflection has proven to me that times were tough for everyone and all of us had it rough.
If I thought my life was rough it scares me to think how rough it will be for today’s kids who have gone through times that are now called the prosperity years and do not have the experience of being born into the Great Depression and coming out of it.
Coming out of it was the greatest school of experience because of the work ethic that came with it. No one gave us handouts and even FDR’s programs were all work related such as the
Between 1935 and 1943 these programs provided 8 million jobs until the unemployment rate was so low that the programs were disbanded on June 30, 1943. Each head of the household during those times had a job and no job was for more than a 30 hour week, but it was a job and not a handout.
Today it seems everything is a handout and more and more people have their hands out. It seems that every store I go into in the past 6 months asks me whether or not I want to donate a dollar not to a recognized 501C3 charity, but to the local fireman’s fund (even though I pay for fire protection with my tax dollars and with an annual fee in my county) or to donate a dollar for children’s school supplies or similar things like that.
I can understand the economy probably better than most since business and finance was part of the 43 years working in my career. What I cannot understand is how we have allowed our great nation to become what it has become. As someone who has run her life, family and business on zero based budgeting since 1954 it really makes my skin crawl to see what we have allowed our leaders and ourselves to do to this nation thus allowing it to be done to ourselves.
When I was young we were patriotic, we were ernest in our desires to get ahead, we were strong and understood the word “no” when our parents said them. When I was young I never worried about what the teacher would say if I got into trouble at school, I was worried about what my father would do when he found out.
When I was young one could just about go everywhere and not be afraid to walk the streets. When I was young one could find a part time job very easily and by the time I was 14 I had a legitamate part time job after school and on Saturday. Prior to that from the time I was 6 years old I worked running errands for nickles and dimes, but I worked.
When I was young I spent more time outside the house than in it. Couch potatoe was not even heard of them.
When I was young I could see a double feature, a newsreel, a serial chapter, at least one cartoon and probably two, get a free dish or cup and even follow the bouncing ball in a singalong for 12 cents. Today, I cannot bring myself to spend $6.00 for the senior citizen rate to even go and see one movie and lately not a very entertaining one at least in my book.
When I was young I thought I would never grow old and now that I am old I still think young.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Fabulous article, Arlene
all my sentiments throughout!
Sandra.Thank you so much Sandra.
This is both a great personal, touching tribute to your youth and a picture of what this country used to be like. This is a true statement of times that have passed. Here's to you and your generation.Thank you Sir Knight
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