Thanks Giving

Did y'all watch The Dust Bowl on Sunday? Gotta love Ken Burns's corny image pans. But what a great documentary! All those people and their stories... I love the 30's, but I didn't know that much about the Dust Bowl itself. I had sort of always thought it just affected Kansas and Nebraska, and maybe Iowa. Also, I had not known it lasted for so long or that there were that many big dust storms during it. Which goes to show I don't know much. 

But like I said, what a great bunch of stories! It kills me that nowadays I hear people complaining about the current recession and how they have trouble finding a job, or can't pay for their insurance or their food, yet somehow they carry iPhones, have satellite TV or DVR service, or have a houseful of stuff. 

Guess what? You are not poor. Look at the people who lived through the Depression, who wore outfits made out of flour sacks, who ate prickly pears because there was nothing else. Look at your houseful of belongings and imagine that all being gone. Now maybe you can begin to imagine the Depression. But you're not in it, so stop whining.

We really are a different generation now, aren't we? Many of us hit our formative years during the economic boom of the 90's, were given a lot of STUFF, and have taken to hoarding because, I don't know, it's miiiiine. And I might neeeed it someday! For my chiiildren!

Gen Y-ers, we're messed up, you know that? Oh sure, there are exceptions. Some of you are fine. But for the rest of us -- for pity's sake, we need to learn to appreciate what we've got, learn to live with less, and SHARE. We are entirely too selfish, me-me-me, want-want-want.

I am, too.

But I'll be darned if I'm not trying to do better.