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Nov. 14th, 2008 04:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
go_away_iraУдивительный текст нашла в комментариях к старой фотографии времен великой депрессии :
"Growing up in the 60's and 70's I'd often heard my parents talk about the Great Depression. Mom came from a fairly wealthy family in Warren, Ohio. Her father owned a coal business and by all accounts did very well. He allowed people to buy the coal they needed to heat their homes on credit during the Depression and very few were ever able to pay. The business went under like so many other of the era and Mom's family lost everything.
My father was raised on a farm in rural Arkansas. He told stories of many traveling drifters and families coming to their door begging for food. His mom would give them food -- vegetables they raised on the farm and a few biscuits that she's put in a gunny sack for them to take.
Dad always said they had no money but his family was much better off then most because they at least had enough to eat most of the time.
The Depression had a very profound effect on my parents and most of their generation. Dad was a union plumber for years and opened his own plumbing business and did very well. As a kid I never remember a shortage of anything but not so the case with my parents.
We had a huge garden and Mom would can and freeze everything the garden produced. My brothers and I hated that damn garden. We spent our whole summer tending it and always thought our parents were crazy for going to all the hard work and trouble of having such a large garden.
We couldn't understand why because my father earned a very good living and we always had plenty. Mom always said if you've ever gone hungry, truly hungry, you never forget the experience and at some point in their lives during the depression they both indeed did go hungry so that huge garden was vital to them.
To the rest of us it was just a big pain in the ass!
After seeing Miss Lange's photographs of Depression era families and the terrible conditions that existed during the 30's I have a much greater understanding of my parents' attitude. I've concluded that what I see as modern day poverty doesn't begin to compare to what my parent's generation experienced!
I guess I never really knew what poverty was. Miss Lange's photographs are haunting and heartbreaking yet very beautifully human. Through her photos I've learned there is a big difference in being penniless and being poor. Being flat broke is one thing but being poor is being without hope for anything to get any better.
Her photos clearly show the hopeless look in the eyes of her subjects and to me that shows true poverty and what being poor is all about. During my adult life I've been as broke as you can get but I never felt poor because I always had hope for a better day ahead.
Thank you Miss Lange for a greater understanding of my parents and what true poverty really is.
"
Детей удивляло почему родители при хорошем достатке содержат огромный огород, работают на нем сами и приучают детей. А мама говорила детям:"Если вы будете голодны, по-настоящему голодны, то этот опыт вы не забудете и это спасет вам жизнь. " Я слышала тоже самое от успешных московских дам, непонимание, недоумение и презрение к странному хобби ковыряться на грядках у стариков.
"Growing up in the 60's and 70's I'd often heard my parents talk about the Great Depression. Mom came from a fairly wealthy family in Warren, Ohio. Her father owned a coal business and by all accounts did very well. He allowed people to buy the coal they needed to heat their homes on credit during the Depression and very few were ever able to pay. The business went under like so many other of the era and Mom's family lost everything.
My father was raised on a farm in rural Arkansas. He told stories of many traveling drifters and families coming to their door begging for food. His mom would give them food -- vegetables they raised on the farm and a few biscuits that she's put in a gunny sack for them to take.
Dad always said they had no money but his family was much better off then most because they at least had enough to eat most of the time.
The Depression had a very profound effect on my parents and most of their generation. Dad was a union plumber for years and opened his own plumbing business and did very well. As a kid I never remember a shortage of anything but not so the case with my parents.
We had a huge garden and Mom would can and freeze everything the garden produced. My brothers and I hated that damn garden. We spent our whole summer tending it and always thought our parents were crazy for going to all the hard work and trouble of having such a large garden.
We couldn't understand why because my father earned a very good living and we always had plenty. Mom always said if you've ever gone hungry, truly hungry, you never forget the experience and at some point in their lives during the depression they both indeed did go hungry so that huge garden was vital to them.
To the rest of us it was just a big pain in the ass!
After seeing Miss Lange's photographs of Depression era families and the terrible conditions that existed during the 30's I have a much greater understanding of my parents' attitude. I've concluded that what I see as modern day poverty doesn't begin to compare to what my parent's generation experienced!
I guess I never really knew what poverty was. Miss Lange's photographs are haunting and heartbreaking yet very beautifully human. Through her photos I've learned there is a big difference in being penniless and being poor. Being flat broke is one thing but being poor is being without hope for anything to get any better.
Her photos clearly show the hopeless look in the eyes of her subjects and to me that shows true poverty and what being poor is all about. During my adult life I've been as broke as you can get but I never felt poor because I always had hope for a better day ahead.
Thank you Miss Lange for a greater understanding of my parents and what true poverty really is.
"
Детей удивляло почему родители при хорошем достатке содержат огромный огород, работают на нем сами и приучают детей. А мама говорила детям:"Если вы будете голодны, по-настоящему голодны, то этот опыт вы не забудете и это спасет вам жизнь. " Я слышала тоже самое от успешных московских дам, непонимание, недоумение и презрение к странному хобби ковыряться на грядках у стариков.
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Date: 2008-11-14 10:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-14 10:09 pm (UTC)Меня еще поразили фотографии американских детей-школьников того времени. Изумительные лица.