But We Were NOT Poverty Stricken

Common Sense Commentary:

I heard someone say, the other day, that 25% of Americans were now "Poverty Stricken" and needed "more Government Stimulus money". I must not know what "Poverty Stricken" means.

I was born during the "Great Depression" on December 24, 1930. I was the only Christmas gift Mom and Dad could afford that year or for ten more years. Dad earned about $2.00 for a full day's labor and then worked at night to survive. I remember one of those night jobs. A rich man, who had two pairs of shoes, one brown and one black, asked Dad if he needed $5.00. Dad said, "That depends on what you need done". The two pair of shoes man said he had dropped his gold watch in the outhouse toilet and it was probably on the bottom. Dad said, "That, I can do for $5.00", and he turned the outhouse over and went in and finally found the rich man's watch. Yes, he really needed that $5.00 .... but we were not "Poverty Stricken". My father is still my number one hero.

Except for the Mexican community, we lived in the poorest section of Sweetwater, Texas but we were not "Poverty Stricken". I played with Mexican kids who had much less than we did, but I never heard any of them or their parents say they were "Poor" or "Poverty Stricken". They were tough, slender and worked hard at the lowest paying jobs, but they did not dream that anyone owed them anything except what they worked for. They are still special in my heart.

We couldn't afford any groceries except oatmeal, cornmeal, flour and beans but that was more than many of our neighbors, so we did not think we were "Poverty Stricken" and wouldn't want anyone else saying we were. We had neighbors who begged food at our back door when times really got hard. They may have been "Poverty Stricken" but we were not. Mom always had enough flour or cornmeal to share with them and enough left to make gravy or cornbread for supper ..... so we were not "Poverty Stricken".

Mom and Dad could not afford a Ford Model "T" or "A" for several years, but neither could most other young couples. Dad walked to work until they finally saved enough to buy an old car and then, he often left it for Mom. The only entertainment we had was each other, paper dolls, a good imagination, and an old radio with two or three stations to listen to... but we were not "Poverty Stricken".

Until I retired, my office was larger than the first house I remember living in. It was a little white frame with about 300 square feet of floor space built by my Dad who was not even a carpenter. It was ice cold in winter and blazing hot in summer. We shivered half the year and sweated the other half, but we were not "Poverty Stricken". Everybody used the old-fashioned "Funeral Parlor" hand fans or a piece of cardboard to stir up a breeze so we were not "Poor", we had lots of air.

When we injured a hand or foot, Dad stuck it under the Coal-oil spout because we could not afford iodine or "monkey blood" (Mercurochrome) or aspirin or cough medicine except a teaspoon of coal-oil with sugar on it .... but we were not "Poverty Stricken". We got one pair of cheap shoes per year for school in September and sometimes had to go bare-foot in April through August, but we were not "Poverty Stricken". My two sisters and I could sometimes "look" poor enough that Dad would reach deep into his pocket to find one penny for a 1 cent piece of candy. We split it three ways and thought we were rich to have a Daddy like that, but we never felt or thought we were "Poverty Stricken" or "poor".

I never heard my mother or father complain about "who was responsible" for the situation. They thought they were responsible to pay their own way and raise and feed and cloth their own children without any body's help. They made do. They worked hard. They were frugal. They got us through the 1930's on hard work, sacrifice, love and hope. That is all we had but it was enough and we were never "Poverty Stricken". We were never even "Poor" and did not envy those with more stuff than us.

I thank God for those hard times. They built character and muscle and pride in our nation which lasted until recent years when most of those who lived through the Great Depression have passed on and very few remember how it felt to have practically "nothing" and still be happy but never "Poverty Stricken", never "Poor". So today, 25% of Americans are "Poverty Stricken" but have homes, cars, televisions, boom boxes, refrigerators, closets full of clothes, cell phones, movies, carry quart sized sodas in one hand, a whopper in the other and talk on their cell phone while driving with their knees. (you can tell by looking who is starving and who is not .... Just in case you didn't know that). I have never seen a truly starving person in this country except a skinny anorexic who thought they were too fat. There are many who swear they are starving but weigh 300 pounds. There are many who "poor-mouth" about needing more free stuff but already have a house full of stuff with three cars parked on the lawn each with a $1000 boom box. They would have been the richest people in Sweetwater during the 1930's.

So don't talk to me about "Poverty"in the U.S.A. I've seen it in Mexico, Africa, Asia and even Europe right after WWII, but what we have is not a "Poverty" problem, it is a drug problem, an alcohol problem, a lazy problem, a spoiled rotten problem, and a political Socialist problem. In other words, a moral problem.

It seems to me most of our nation is now "Poverty Stricken", but not in material things, .... in character, in thankfulness, in personal pride, in self reliance and in gratitude....the important things. Yes, we have become very, very poor in those things .... Truly "Poverty Stricken".

Pass it on if you dare. RB