The Great Depression

A Mother during the Great Depression

Watching the American Girl movie "Kit Kittredge" with the girls this morning has me thinking. I don't know too much about the Depression, so thought we'd make this a unit study after Christmas. (I already have the lessons planned for the next couple of weeks, then we will be taking a two week break during Christmas.)

If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it. It made me stop and thinking about the current economic times we are going through. The movie provides a great lesson about making do, reusing, and finding any honest way of making a dime. Every bit helps, and adds up to help the people, from families to hobos get through the tough time. The hobos had a system of warning each other, each person contributed to the food pot what they could find that day, and everyone shared. That is a sense of community, so often not found in large towns today. It exists to a certain point in the small town where I live. You are fortunate to know people who have tractors or farming implements you can borrow, surplus garden produce, outgrown clothing, firewood and more. By letting others in the community know what you are looking for you will be surprised at what you are given free of charge.

We've been able to use the post hole digger for the tractor, borrowed from a friend of Rodney's, along with his dad's disc/plow. Neighbors know to call us when trees die, or fall during a storm. Others have shared eggs with me, when they hear my chickens haven't started laying yet, as well as, finding out about an opportunity to deer hunt that will provide meat for our family.
This is the way it is meant to be, and I love the sense of community, though along with that comes the griping and pettiness of small town life. The kind of bickering often found in families too.

Along with the movie this morning, I read an article about a group of people (family, church members, and neighbors) banding together to form a cooperative group. The primary purpose of the group was to help each during emergencies. They formed a disaster preparation group that benefited them during recent natural disasters. They are now looking to expand this group to cover current economic difficulties. Several of their members have lost jobs, or taken a cut in pay. A couple have moved in together to share expenses and responsibilities. I would love if something like this could happen within my family, but I frankly don't see it happening. Everyone is too independent, and stubborn to see past the need for today, to look at what will happen tomorrow. I wish I had the type of family that was willing to pull our resources, build one large house on our land, and help and support each other to survive. Oh, not just during tough economic times, but in normal every day life. But such is not the case. Everyone enjoys being scattered across the country, so in times of need (such as sickness, financial issues, etc.) we cannot adequately help each other.

This result is of course indicative of the "new" American culture that pervades our nation. There was once a time when families stayed together or in close proximity to each other, even after marriage. There were several generations living in one home, where support was available. Now, this just doesn't happen. And we wonder why divorce, child abuse, morals and moving away from God has happened. It's because we don't have the good examples of generations to pass down.

I just hope that when the things decline further, and they will, in this next year or two, that families wake up and realizes that the can still rely on each other if they choose the right course of action, get rid of their pride and entitlement perspective and band together.

In my own family and church, I have made a list of everyone that came to mind and the useful skills they could provide the group IF we banded together (which by the way would never happen, they think I'm crazy, but we'll see).

Here's my list:

Randy G., Kelly W., and Mark M. - hunting skills
Kelly W. - Pastor
Mark M. - mechanically inclined (cars, trucks, etc.)
Kim M. - very crafty (can knit, crochet, sew, cook - all wonderfully)
Cheryl W. - school teacher
April G. - school teacher
Mrs. W - used to be a school cafeteria cook, so she knows how to cook for large groups
Mr. W - military experience
Michael - military experience
Vanessa - school teacher, other than that I don't know her well enough yet
Ann - military experience, computer experience, and smart ;-)
Ronnie - school teacher, good counselor
Rodney - hunting, welding, fabrication, electrical, carpentry, good critical thinking skills
Blake - hunting, welding, lots of energy
Stacey - Medical Assistant
My Mom - sewing, cooking, mediating and other skills (can't think right now)
Randy S. - I know he'd be valuable, just don't know him well enough to have something pop up
Mr. Edge - farming, military experience, lived through the Depression, great story teller
Mrs. Edge - cook, sewing, canning, food preservation, herbal medicines
Me - teaching, baking, sewing, crochet some, canning, food preservation, herbal medicines, veterinary assistant experience, self sufficiency student

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20081201/bs_ynews/ynews_bs168#full