I asked my father what his parents had told him about their tough times during the Great Depression.

This is what he shared with me:

They lived on the farm during the Great Depression near Palestine Texas. Mom’s teen years occurred during that crisis. Their family was, of course, very poor. They had only one cow and depended upon her to provide milk for the entire family. President Franklin Roosevelt’s “stimulus plan” included sending a team to the family farm to shoot their one cow and burn the meat, so that it could not be eaten.

I suppose it was a well-intentioned plan designed to “stimulate” spending and consumption, to force this little family to go out and purchase milk and meat at the store. In reality, all it stimulated was hunger and a deep resentment of government stupidity and cruelty and of President Roosevelt personally. My mom just plain didn’t like the President and was fond of making sure everyone she knew understood why. Let’s pray all the well intentioned “stimuli” our benevolent government is throwing around today hits the mark a bit better.

Because of her experience as a teen, my grandmother went on to participate in the battle to establish a two-party system in Texas. Up until about the 1960s (I’m estimating here) Texans could only vote for Democrats because only Democrats ran (sound familiar? big grin ).

What are your stories of dealing with Tough Times?  We’d like to hear them.

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