From today's Southtown-Star "Always Right" column...
There are few Americans left today to share firsthand Great Depression experiences. Watching films such as "Cinderella Man" or "Sea Biscuit" is the closest most of us will come to grasping the sheer desperation that blanketed our country a short 80 years ago.
My own southern Missouri-raised mother would tell stories of how her prized pump organ was eventually splintered and burned in their farmhouse's wooden stove. My Des Moines-bred father-in-law told of how, as a young boy, he would pull the light chain in their family's basement garage for haulers to back in and load up illegal bathtub gin. Memories would be sparked and stories would roll when younger family members would complain about their financial struggles.
Hearing those tales, we would always be in awe of what Americans endured in the 1930s, and we'd always understand why our parents and grandparents were frugal and warned us youngsters about getting too far in debt.
"You never know when things could get bad again," they would say. "Be thankful for what you've got and take good care of it."
The rest is HERE.
