When most people hear about the 30's they see what was left of the Roaring '20s. Moods were changed with The Great Depression and it began with the glamorous of Old Hollywood.
No one sees what the "Ordinary Life" was like for families in need or thinks about that when they think of the 1930s.
The Great Depression was the war between the two Wars, World War I and World War II. Families who had to wait for their Soldiers to get home to face another War at home ten years later. To also not to know that another War was on the horizon six years after The Great Depression. "Brother Can You Spare a Dime" came out of The Great Depression. If you listen to the words of it, you can understand what it means. The men that served their country did not get the bonuses they were told they were going to get after getting out of the services.
Ernest Hemingway wrote " The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially.
In today's society, we don't have to worry about being broken. Yes, we see people suffering through poverty and homelessness. But we as a people in society today can make it work. Our spirits at times may be broken but we also can get back up and do it all over again. As a society, we don't have to sell our children because we cannot afford them, as some families did to survive in The Great Depression, and hope to someday reunite with them.
During The Great Depression, the everyday working man would leave their families because of their broken spirit. These loving husbands and fathers could not take the shame of not being able to support their families. These men were embarrassed and ashamed. A lot of these men could not be considered vagrants because they lived in the communities. This is what started a lot of the hobo communities.
Race didn't matter in some parts during The Great Depression, why? It was because regardless everyone faced some sort of repercussion of the tumbling whirlwind of the economic domino effect. It was about helping each other out.
A lot of people had the attitude of people were poor but not poverty-stricken. One is an attitude and one is a thing you can get out of a lot of people decided to get out of it.
This goes by the attitude a lot of people have today or should. Stop barring yourselves down when there is always a way to get out of it.
With the education of today's society, we are immensely spoiled by it. Most were uneducated or had little of it. Those were the most vulnerable in those times. Today we can get up and go to a public school online or homeschooled, college, without being shamed by our race or ethnic background to just get in to get an education.
So my take away from this is that be glad of what you have or do not have. Don't let things slip and let get taken away from you. Hold down on what you have. Don't take for granted all the things around you. I also wanted to give you an inside look of what people went through before I started with the five day series of recipes. You will see it was what you had to make a meal to feed and nourish yourself but your family.
Life is too short so make it count.
Thank You,
-Xo, Mel
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