This. When you have no options you don't even look elsewhere because you know it's all closed doors.

When I think about my parents leaving their country with nothing, I mean nothing, it it mind boggling to me. But what were the choices? Be killed or leave?

My life was made better because of their decision but I also had little options when it came to college. Had to do it myself.

I think as parents, we walk a thin line of wanting to give our kids what we didn't have but at the same time, make sure they don't take that for granted and know it isn't theirs to take but rather our choice to give it to them.

Valid point, my bad. Inappropriate post deleted.

Thanks! SmileWavy

Well said, Thuy!

Good for you.

That is something that is missing in our society.

Sounds like an interesting story and life!

I had a heart to heart with the kiddos awhile back...too many in this town are spoiled to the point that it will hurt them. I won't have that. Momma says I'm too hard on them. I don't give them an inch. When they want something they work for it and save. I spring for some back to school stuff and Birthday/Christmas presents - anything else they get them selves. Fortunately my Daughter has very little want. My Son has plenty of want but will work and save for it - lately his mind is all over the place with various wants.

I would look at the bright side - at least they left him a sizable farm for the time. At 16 in that day, you were ready to run a farm, no doubt.

And don't kid yourself - today's kids from a good background are just as smart and hard working. Just in a different way. My kids would be able to move out and make a living at 16 if I was gone, I have no doubt, in a much more complicated world.

G

My grandfather......

My great grandfather died during the depression, my grandfather quit school and went to work sweeping floors in a PPG glass plant. He made just enough to take care of his mom and siblings and along the way got his GED,went to college at night to get his degree,go off to the navy in WWII and raise 4 kids of his own.
Retired as foundry supervisor and could literally do for himself truly anything. I have a few of his things that I cherish. His pea coat ,hammer,and a toy chest he made for me 50 yrs ago.
My best memory of him was having him sit next to me at my bench while I carved a smoking pipe for him. Put his initials on it and carved the Masonic emblem on it on the front. He was tickled pink to load it up and smoke it at the lodge.

Maybe he's the reason I'm who I am to this day...... Maybe the reason we all are who we are and our kids pick up on that the same way we did

And..... Always wanted to have a boy... Would of named him Samuel August after Pap .... But 2 girls I have instead and Samantha never was agreed

My grandfather was more carpenter than farmer. My father, at 8 years old, was plowing fields with a tractor.

There are OSHA & child labor regulations today which disallow anyone under the age of 16 to work more than 6 feet above the ground.

I grew up in farmland and there would be a horrible accident every few years involving a kid, usually around farm machinery or heights. I have mixed feelings about better safety rules ...

G

btw, nice story wdfifteen.

I think kids or young people (40 and under) have been influenced by school, media, and every corner you turn to enjoy themselves and life. Seems that hard work is not on the top of the list of important things to do in life anymore. Unlike years past during the really hard times in America or the world. Working hard meant survival.

Jim is right, there are many young people who are real go getters just like they have had in the past. I know or have heard of many looser that were from the older generation. Real lazy bastards that can't hold a job.

I had history around me .My father was old when I came along (WW1) He served in Germany/ France.
All my relatives came from the farm erra of that time and served in the Military at some point . WW 2 and korea
Growing up on the farm was just the way it was .Those folks were tuff !
My grandmother was milking cows still at 70 something !
Then the draft started knocking on the door. It was my turn. (went to Nam)
I think it all made me a better person, self reliant,Self employed my whole life.
It seems today as i have said B4, todays kids have messed the rite to being grown ups.
When one does a "sit in" on their collage of choice for a co-ed bathroom...I think they have lost sight of priorities .

House! You were lucky to live in a house! We used to live in one room, all twenty-six of us, no furniture, 'alf the floor was missing, and we were all 'uddled together in one corner for fear of falling.

Then we got evicted and had to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woke up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House? Huh.

At least you had rotting fish!

I think what really makes the depression of the 30s and 40s different from today's economic problems is there was no government welfare or food stamps. If you did not work you went hungry. Sure there were soup lines in the big city but the rural areas it was work or starve and the work was very hard to find.

I think of my wife's grandparents. They got married in 1929. They moved to a very rural part of Oklahoma and with money they had saved and wedding gift money they bought a land in the middle of nowhere. They raised 4 boys with no electricity. Going into town was a all day ordeal. They cleared the rocks and put up fences and made a farm, built a house and a barn and made a living. Now imagine 1930s dust bowl Oklahoma. It was the hottest and driest period on record. The wimps packed up and moved to California. They stuck it out and survived with no government handouts.

I have been very lucky and never had to face those hardships.

I have never received one penny of any type of government assistance. I just pay a lot of money in taxes. I receive the benefits of a strong US military and government funded roads and infrastructure and other government services but everyone alive in the country gets those as well. Even if they have never worked a day in their life.

People are still tough. They're out there every day working hard and making their living. I think we don't see them because people like that don't always like attention. They have too much work to do and aren't on the Internet asking why their 911 won't start. (Not meant as a jab to anyone.) Some of my smartest, toughest life-long friends are quiet types. No Facebook, no car forums, just working and living their lives and not seeking attention.

People like the farm kid lived in tougher times, that's for sure. The Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, WWII. You had to be tough to get by but there were a lot of candy-asses too. Maybe it's that we used to celebrate toughness of this kind (in the media) and now we celebrate candy-asses like the Kardashians and celebrities in general.

One comment about the Greatest Generation. Everyone served. There were no draft-dodging loopholes that the rich kids and senators' sons ducked through. The draft tended to catch everyone back in the WWII days. Sure, there were ways to get easy duty if you were well-connected but you still had to go in and wear the uniform. Today, wearing a uniform is only cool if someone else does it. We prefer yellow magnetic ribbons to actually serving. Today we wouldn't dare ask the children of the elite to pull their weight by serving in uniform, that's what poor and working class kids are for.

Pardon my PARFiness.

What, have you got the clap ? Stop hanging out with those mingers in PARF and it might go away.

You see, while there might be wit involved in taking a cheap shot, it is still a cheap shot.

When I was a kid, I started working full time at 19, even though I wasn't that far away from being a college graduate. I worked pretty much 7 days a week for 20 years, and at one point I closed down my business because my Dad needed help. I helped him run his business, made up for a lack of employees, and later helped him to retire in comfort.

I don't blame anyone for that, nor do I expect a medal, nor do I think you can assume that you know what political party people belong to just because they are hard working.

But you can learn a lot about people by the cheap shots they make in inappropriate places.

Here is the thing. In spite of the fact that you sometimes say things that can be really out of place and annoying to me, I still worry about your health since your car accident. So why don't we all play nice, and stop using these threads as a place to air our personal agendas. The moderators may let a lot of things slide, but if one wants to be thought of as a gentleman, one should be self moderating.

You make one comment, and then later someone makes a post that they are adult enough to delete. Your comment was relatively mild, but where do people get the idea from that it is OK to make these kind of comments in the first place ?

It's a slippery slope. Get Off It.

Tobra has become one of the members who's posts I seldom bother to read. I have bad days, but some here (mostly PARF regulars) are consistently angry.