This does not bode well

From the Seattle Times: "How They Survived"

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2008678892_depression28m.html

As the nation heads deeper into recession, the longest and possibly most severe since World War II, it's worth remembering that once upon a time, things were much worse. Those who lived through the Great Depression of the 1930s emerged with experiences that would shape their lives and financial philosophies, providing lessons many passed on to their children and a lens through which they see today's situation...

we can only hope and pray it doesn't get that bad.

But it is comforting in some way to know there are those who got through it.

In grade school we had a lesson on recycling, not wasting things, reusing, etc. We were told to look at how we lived and bring in examples, if possible, of what we did in this way. I proudly told my class we used garbage to make into candy, having made candied orange peel for christmas recently.

There are going to be some major attitude changes in the USA in times to come. Reduce, reuse, recycle, you don't need the latest fashions/etc to feel good about yourself. Work together, help each other, get more connected. Don't move as often (increases connections), figure out what is truly necessary and important, and help each other.

She talked about how her whole neighborhood would cook meals together (often spaghetti) to save money and make sure nobody went hungry. They looked out for each other; if somebody had a little extra, they kicked in, and if somebody had nothing, nobody had to know about it - everybody got fed.

Basically, they practiced socialism on a neighborhood scale, and not out of politics - out of caring for one another.

I think about my grandparents and parents making it; I think about the immigrants who make it after coming here with nothing. I'm sure we can do it if we take care of one another.

and I have the diary he kept in 1931 when he was 14. He was quite a hustler, selling anything he could buy cheaper at train stations, bus depots and on the street to get his weekly movie money.

My mother caught the worst since she'd come from money and she and my grandmother were reduced to eating oatmeal three times a day, supplemented only with a five cent fried egg sandwich when my mother found work after she graduated high school at 14.

They were certainly old enough to know what was going on, and the experience colored the rest of their lives. My mother wouldn't allow oatmeal in the house until she got old and a little goofy. They saved everything, which was a total pain in the ass when I had to clean their house out.

Their poverty taught me to save and to stay out of debt. I had a credit card for about three years. When the junk fee statement appeared on the back of the monthly bill, I sent it in with a letter that must've curled the hair in their noses. They taught me to learn as many survival skills as I could, and that's helped me stay out of debt. They taught me the difference between wanting something and needing it.

The friends my own age who have gotten into debt had parents who were too young to remember the reality of the Depression. Those of us with parents who were old enough to know what was going on learned some very important lessons, even if we forgot them for a while.