Sacrifice

Modern day Americans are so lucky.  We have little idea the kind sacrifices made by our ancestors in building this country.  Only our military families sacrifice today.  They separate and go off to fight our enemies, while the rest of us occasionally watch on TV.  It hasn't always been this way.  You can still see evidence of past sacrifice in prior generations.

I remember my grandmother, who everyday after retrieving the daily newspaper would carefully untie the string around it, add it to her ball of string in the kitchen.  I didn't think much of it then, but now have come to believe this behavior was learned from her parents who were only a generation removed from the pioneer days of America.  If my ancestors needed string, they could travel a mile or more into town to the local mercantile , which might have string for sale.  If not, they could order string to arrive in several weeks.  Or they could make their own string.  How inconvenient.  If I were in the same situation, I too would save small pieces of string so that I would have it when needed. 

The pioneer days were not the only era that fostered this behavior.  We can also see it in our parents and grandparents.  My mother in law would wash paper plates and reuse them.  My father in law will use left over paint instead of buying new paint.  Nothing of even minimal value is discarded.  They are not hoarders.  Their behavior was probably passed on from their own parents and collective experiences of life during world wars.

War time behavior was that our nation would scrimp and save everything to support the troops.  Metal drives would donate tons of scrap iron used to build guns, ships and tanks.  No scrap was too insignificant to donate.  Gasoline and food rationing would ensure that our troops had what they needed to survive.  War bonds collected billions of dollars from a less than affluent citizenry. Everyone sacrificed.  Nothing was thrown out.

I believe this mindset still exists in our parents.   It has died with my generation.  We began the disposable society.  We throw it away when done.