Looking Back At The Great Depression

The Ohio Department of Aging is soliciting stories from Ohioans who lived through the Great Depression of the 1930s so that the sacrifices they made and the lessons they learned may be shared with other generations currently facing tough economic times. Other generations facing tough economic times? Sounded like “brother can you spare a dime”. A dime I’ve got as well as the time, so I thought I’d send reams of data. It turned out my data wasn’t worth a plug nickel. No tear jerking experiences, just some thoughts on the Great Depression. I’m sure the ODA wanted some cerebral views along with the tear jerking and chest pounding views it was sure to get, so I e-mailed them these words for their archives.

How did I live through the Depression of 1930’s? I thought surely I had a lot to share. My struggles, my sacrifices, my adaptations. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks ( couldn’t resist the cliché)! It wasn’t so bad. Why, because if you were poor before The Great Depression, being poor during The Great Depression was not traumatic. Besides, living in an ethnic ghetto as a young boy you really did not know how green the grass was on the other side of the fence ( I swear clichés came out of The Great Depression).

During the Depression my diet did not change, my threadbare clothes did not change. I did not go hungry and all my basic needs were provided. Yes, my parents lost the house and my father lost his job. One thing he didn’t loose was his spirit. Through the W.P.A., aid from veterans organizations and community gardens provided by the city we survived. No one griped other than an occasional “that SOB, Hoover” from my mother.

I do remember my father coming home from his W.P.A. job one wintry morning, his ears twice their normal size from frost bite.

Boys my age carted a shoeshine box downtown to shine the shoes of those could afford a dime. Boys my age hawking newspapers on the street was not uncommon. Playing with a makeshift football - salt sack full of leaves- on the street was fun. Most people walked to stores , their place of work or a welfare agency. Again, they walked before the Depression also - cars were always scarce in my neighborhood.

The Great Depression years taught several lessons. Get an education - learn how the other half lives! From my father, no sacrifice is too great for the welfare of your family. If adversity strikes don’t whine- adapt!

As much as some may complain about big government, it was big government that got us through The Great Depression ( with a little help from Hitler)!