The blog post this week is directed toward the consumers,  yes, the customers. We have a tendency to be very hard on the merchants in our community. We place more stringent rules and guidelines for patronage on our local merchants than on the larger stores and mall merchants we often frequent.

By definition, survival is the state or fact of continuing to live or exist, typically in spite of an accident, ordeal, or difficult circumstances. The ways and means by which we live are relevant to every member of our society, community, or family to include adults and children alike.

I was born in the midst of the Great Depression of the 1930s and raised by God-fearing parents who upheld a standard of morality and passed down a good work ethic. During those years, times were very tough; and families came together in order to respond to the challenges of that era...