Is History Repeating Itself?
Having been born during the time of the Great Depression, I witnessed firsthand the effects on families in crisis in the south, but people living in the north were hardest hit. In the south there was still opportunity for planting, but word come from northerners about food lines and limited availability of supply as a result of the harsher effects of the stock market crash and the downturn economy.
Just a little over sixty years prior, the 13th Amendment to the constitution abolished slavery in the United States, and former slaves were building their lives from the ground up. The overwhelming majority had no farm to go to and had very little worldly possessions. What they had, however, was their faith and trust in God, a background in farming, and knowledge of how to work the land and make natural home remedies, tinctures and extracts that greatly armed them during that time.
One of the great poets and writers during that era was Langston Hughes who published literature that gave hope and direction to black people during those hard and often cruel years.
We can borrow a lot from times not so far in the distant past to help us overcome what is before us. Times are not what they used to be and there is no use shutting our minds to the fact that times-a-changing.
Aims for prosperity have gone into retirement and we need to redirect our focus toward preparing for a white winter and the harsh reality of the effects on the supply chain. It’s time to pool efforts collectively and gather, store and share what we have in order to help provide for those who may be in need.
We need to revisit skills once taught in the home… learn to cook and plant a small garden. If you don’t have a portion of land or a yard, plant inside using large pots and vases. Survival and resourcefulness in times past are a great reference for times directly up ahead.
The bible says there is "a time and a season for every purpose under heaven," and I can only imagine this to be God’s way of getting our attention.
Clarence Matthews
The Elder's Ledger
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.
Keeping in step with the stated theme of "It Takes a Village to Raise a Child," and the appropriated action to "Reclaim the Village," I believe we must look at the inner workings of the village and take proper action, yes, the necessary steps to arrive at our desired outcome.
This blog post again references the need for the support of local businesses, expansion and job creation within our communities. Tell me, what’s the incentive for our young people entering the work force to remain a part of the village? What do they have to invest in? What is there for them to build upon? Are we actually supporting a premise for them to desire to leave and never look back?