Surviving Hard Times

I can’t help but wonder if this generation will look back on their “hard times” with the same amount of warm affection and tenderness as our parents or their parents generation tends to do when reminiscing about the Depression era; a tenderness that comes from a lifetime of acquired wisdom. Talking with most people who survived the last Great Depression one is struck by the fact that no matter the amount of sacrificing and hardship most of them experienced they all seem to have came through it with a greater sense of  self worth and determination.  In talking with my mother-in-law about her eighty-eight plus years of experiences one thing truly stands out; strength, the strength of individuals, families and communities to overcome great adversity. Now, as back then, families are discovering that they can get by with less, that leftovers aren’t near as bad as we made them out to be, and that daily lattés from the coffee chain down the street aren’t really a necessity.  Things won’t be easy for a while, but eventually these hard times too will pass, and hopefully the next generation will see in us a source of great strength and wisdom.