Community Chat

[Imadickens]

My mother and father lived through The Depression as teenagers. I heard enough about it to feel like I lived thru it too! My maternal grandfather was a dentist. During hard times, dentists aren't at the top of the "must do" list, but people still get toothaches! My grandfather immigrated as a young teen, all alone, to send the money he could make back to his family, living in and around Russia, depending on his father's assignment as a Presbyterian missionary. My GF rode a bicycle through back hills in places like Kentucky selling pots and pans he carried with him. There were numerous stories of him being taken, cheated, and stolen from. He never knew a full stomach, warmth, or a real bed, often sleeping on the ground. Also lacking in his young life was love and kindness. His father was a "spare the rod" type, tho my dear grandfather was too sickly and so skinny his whole life that I doubt he did much to warrent his lashings! He never forgot the one person who showed him kindness. He had become quite ill and had fallen by the side of the road. Many passed him by, some stopped to take any of his wares they liked, but none offered him aid, or payment for what they took. A kind man came by, took him to a doctor (saving his life) to fix his ruptured appendix! He never forgot that man, paying it forward millions of times over!

So, in the midst of The Depression, he fixed people's teeth, treated patients as if they were paying regulars! Those who had any form of payment brought it to him...apples, pies, jams, etc. Others offered services like carpentry, tho he had nothing to be built or fixed. When it was finally over, my grandfather had become the most prominent dentist in the huge city in which he lived! I never saw more than four outfits in his closet, tho each was the best he could afford!  Although he had money, the family never forgot the lesson my grandfather cherished most. Kindness. My uncle and mother lived by that belief as well. After seeing such desperate people during that time, my grandfather never forgot he was only alive because a stranger stopped to help an unknown boy on the side of the road. I wonder if that man had any idea how many lives that action would end up saving by saving my grandfather?

[panda1234]

@Imadickens what a sweet story, thanks for sharing.

[libbyannE]

It was way before my time, but my parents and stepfather were kids then. It seems I am unusual in that none of my parents as kids felt they were affected by it. My mother's family was well off and remained so. My father was the opposite: He used to say that his family was poor, anyway, so he didn't notice a difference when the Depression itself came along!  My stepfather's family was well off, too, so his childhood was very comfortable. My mother does recall her mother handing out food to men who walked up to the house. Mom said her mother never turned anyone away, and if they insisted, as many did, on doing some work, she would find something for them to do-- trim bushes, hoe a bit of her garden, whatever. And she would pack up something to eat as they left, too. "But for the grace of God...." was her attitude, Mother says, and she has that philosophy, too, and passed it along to me. Aha! So maybe that WAS a well-learned and -shared effect of the Depression! 

[MyGirlsMom]

My parents were young children during the Depression and never spoke about it.

[deepwaterdotter]

There's always enough to share with those less fortunate than myself.  My grandmother would always make extra helpings to feed those who passed by and needed a meal.

[on the bay]

To  save money.

To save everything else!

Do not throw anything away esp food.

Re-use everything.

Wash tinfoil.

Save things "in case needed or someone else needs them."

Be interested in family history and save everything about it, and make copies of everything so every family member has one.

Be interested in the world and what is going on because it affects you.

Education is important.

Get a government job with security forever.

Collect and store things, many of each just in case you aren't able to get them anymore.For example-keep fifty boxes of lightbulbs just in case you run out or can't buy anymore at some point (and fifty duplicates of everything else.

Always buy less than you can actually afford. But buy good clothes that last forever when you can.

Treat everyone the same because we are all in the same boat-poor!

note:I don't follow many of these, sometimes just the opposite.

I think even if people became well off after the depression, they never forgot and still live as if they are in it or may be in another one again, no matter how old they get.

[spent2much]

What a beautiful story @Imadickens.  I remember both my parents talking about the depression.  My mom had to give up the chance to go to college because of it.  I kinda felt like I lived through it, too, cuz my mom talked about it so often... or maybe not so often... maybe I just listened closely and took her seriously when she did talk about it.

[dex]

It is amazing to hear about how much was shared and saved to be reused.Today we throw out so much stuff just so we can get new.I can't think of much that is in my home that hasn't been replaced more than once....sometimes only because I am tired of it.We all have so much and yet yearn for more.

[Moonchilde]

Not to waste, certainly. To mend and to repurpose.

My mother was a teenager during the depression. Mostly what I have "learned" from listening to her talk about those times is that the times were tough, but no one who has not been through something the same or similar can really relate - no matter how often it's referenced or repeated. It gets to be like the "When I was your age I walked 20 miles through the swamp to school" thing. After awhile you're just yeah, whatever (especially as a teen yourself). We can't really imagine.

[GCR18]

It wasn't talked about when I was growing up.