Thankful

Looking for something to be thankful for?  Here's one.  Be thankful you were not a child of the 1930's. 

Earlier this week I watch a Ken Burns documentary on PBS titled "The Dust Bowl".  I love history, but hadn't spent any time reading about this particular period.  The PBS special really caught my attention for a couple of reasons.  First, the proximity of the Dust Bowl to my hometown, and secondly, the fact that my parents and grandparents lived through it.  It was an incredible, calamitous time. The hardship and suffering endured by those folks is quite amazing.  Consider this string of events:

The economic system fails and America enters the great depression.
The price for wheat and corn falls dramatically.
The middle of the country enters a 10 year drought.
Dust storms plague the Midwest at the rate of dozens each year.
Dust piles up on home like snow drifts.
Everything inside and outside homes is covered with dirt.
Farmers can no longer feed their herds and kill them off.
Thousands of children and elderly die of dust pneumonia.
Thousands of rabbits invade populated areas as they look for vegetation.
Swarms of grasshoppers invade eating everything is sight.

Beginning in 1939, the climate changed back to a more normal pattern with rain and seasonal temperatures.  But the respite was sort-lived.  In 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked and America entered a period of violent world war. 

What a terrible time in our history.  I don't remember my family talking about it much even though they lived through it.  I do remember my grandmother and my father telling me they survived for years on fried potatoes.  Now I have a glimmer of understanding why.  I am thankful for the comparative easy life we have.