IN THE HARD TIMES OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION
After the crash of 1929 there were hard times everywhere and cash was measured in nickels and times. There were soup lines.
rampant crimes. Selling laid off execs, derelicts, drug addicts. Thousands of men down on their luck, willing to kill or steal just to make a buck
Homeless slept on streets wrapped in newspaper sheets, ate crumbs of bread spread for birds. In Europe the count of deaths began to mount. Hitler’s power was growing fast. How much longer could it last?
Meanwhile, our nation was on the verge of starvation. Like our neighbors abroad we all prayed to God, but He apparently didn’t hear. We had faith He’d come through when the end was near, but feared we’d never live to see prosperity return to our Land of the Free.
Mothers cried, children died, politicians lied. Good men tried, sighed in their sleep. How long could they go on until all hope was gone. Many knew what they’d have to do.
But how could man abandon his wife, his daughters and his and his sons, give up a family life hardly begun?
“Am I going mad?” dad asked the Voice that lived inside their heads. The Voice replied: “When you are dead their hope will die. Try again, again, again...” They couldn’t silence the echoing Voice repeating, repeating, repeating endlessly.
Many a troubled soul regained control and returned the knife to the kitchen drawer. Knew what it was for. They began to weep, realizing what they might have done in their troubled sleep. They did what the Voice told them to do.
Who knew what tomorrow would bring? It was the first day of Spring. Flowers blooming, birds singing. A new beginning? They’d wait and see. Again. Again, Again.
As 1941 neared it's end new troubles began. December 7. Pearl Harbor. War with Japan, Germany and a conglomeration of nations on the axis and the allied sides. Tides of war grew. Death, too.. Profits in the trillions by the ammo industry and manufacturers that turn out tools for wars instead of cars. K-rations instead of candy bars. Everything cost more in every store. Shortages galore. But there were jobs, wages soared and workers bought war they could afford with ease while GIs died overseas.
Millions died. Trillions cried. Survivors wondered why it took the insanity of humanity to regain what had been lost.
With blood-soaked prosperity the world forgot. Wall Street again was on a roll. Corporate profits increased all because of the magic and the tragic word: PEACE!
rampant crimes. Selling laid off execs, derelicts, drug addicts. Thousands of men down on their luck, willing to kill or steal just to make a buck
Homeless slept on streets wrapped in newspaper sheets, ate crumbs of bread spread for birds. In Europe the count of deaths began to mount. Hitler’s power was growing fast. How much longer could it last?
Meanwhile, our nation was on the verge of starvation. Like our neighbors abroad we all prayed to God, but He apparently didn’t hear. We had faith He’d come through when the end was near, but feared we’d never live to see prosperity return to our Land of the Free.
Mothers cried, children died, politicians lied. Good men tried, sighed in their sleep. How long could they go on until all hope was gone. Many knew what they’d have to do.
But how could man abandon his wife, his daughters and his and his sons, give up a family life hardly begun?
“Am I going mad?” dad asked the Voice that lived inside their heads. The Voice replied: “When you are dead their hope will die. Try again, again, again...” They couldn’t silence the echoing Voice repeating, repeating, repeating endlessly.
Many a troubled soul regained control and returned the knife to the kitchen drawer. Knew what it was for. They began to weep, realizing what they might have done in their troubled sleep. They did what the Voice told them to do.
Who knew what tomorrow would bring? It was the first day of Spring. Flowers blooming, birds singing. A new beginning? They’d wait and see. Again. Again, Again.
As 1941 neared it's end new troubles began. December 7. Pearl Harbor. War with Japan, Germany and a conglomeration of nations on the axis and the allied sides. Tides of war grew. Death, too.. Profits in the trillions by the ammo industry and manufacturers that turn out tools for wars instead of cars. K-rations instead of candy bars. Everything cost more in every store. Shortages galore. But there were jobs, wages soared and workers bought war they could afford with ease while GIs died overseas.
Millions died. Trillions cried. Survivors wondered why it took the insanity of humanity to regain what had been lost.
With blood-soaked prosperity the world forgot. Wall Street again was on a roll. Corporate profits increased all because of the magic and the tragic word: PEACE!
posted by Ed Weiland at 8:30 PM
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