06 June 2005
No lawyers, no politicians
No lawyers, no politicians
Did you read the article comparing the WW II generation�those at home�who shared the burdens of supporting the troops? Imagine, Congress enacted a 94% tax rate for incomes over $200k; FDR wanted 100%. I do think there�s another book to write and it should contain reports from our generation, the children of these people who lived through the Depression and WW II. I don�t know if you�ve had the experience to take over and deal with your parents� household after they�ve passed or moved into assisted living residence. My cousin Nancy said her mom�s place was the filled with stored items. Aunt Velma wouldn�t spend money she could well afford. At 91, she didn�t want to be a burden to Nancy in her old age! My parents were cut from the same pattern.
My friend Jeffrey is moving his 95 yr. old father into a new �assisted living� residence this week. Jeff told me last night that he never knew how much stuff his father had stuffed away, e.g., plastic bags that were from before plastic was invented. Leon, the father, immigrated from Russia in the 1920�s and grew up on Hester St. So, he had both cultural change, the Depression plus the War. The women at the assisted living residence are going to eat Leon alive! And he�ll love it, too. (Picture Charlie Ruggles in his later years.)
Another friend, George, said that they found canned fruit dated back to the early 1950�s in his father-in-law�s home. Almost every one I know who has had to clear out their parents� house has remarked about how much stuff they found. Our parents were pack rats extraordinaire! They never threw things away�because you�ll never know when you�ll need to use them. Is it any wonder that our generation rebelled against such quaint ideas as �waste not, want not� during the 1950�s and �60�s?
Were they the Greatest Generation? They were extraordinary people, at times maddening and infuriating to us growing up in their households, yet they left their imprints on us in ways the next few generations will never appreciate.
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Did you read the article comparing the WW II generation�those at home�who shared the burdens of supporting the troops? Imagine, Congress enacted a 94% tax rate for incomes over $200k; FDR wanted 100%. I do think there�s another book to write and it should contain reports from our generation, the children of these people who lived through the Depression and WW II. I don�t know if you�ve had the experience to take over and deal with your parents� household after they�ve passed or moved into assisted living residence. My cousin Nancy said her mom�s place was the filled with stored items. Aunt Velma wouldn�t spend money she could well afford. At 91, she didn�t want to be a burden to Nancy in her old age! My parents were cut from the same pattern.
My friend Jeffrey is moving his 95 yr. old father into a new �assisted living� residence this week. Jeff told me last night that he never knew how much stuff his father had stuffed away, e.g., plastic bags that were from before plastic was invented. Leon, the father, immigrated from Russia in the 1920�s and grew up on Hester St. So, he had both cultural change, the Depression plus the War. The women at the assisted living residence are going to eat Leon alive! And he�ll love it, too. (Picture Charlie Ruggles in his later years.)
Another friend, George, said that they found canned fruit dated back to the early 1950�s in his father-in-law�s home. Almost every one I know who has had to clear out their parents� house has remarked about how much stuff they found. Our parents were pack rats extraordinaire! They never threw things away�because you�ll never know when you�ll need to use them. Is it any wonder that our generation rebelled against such quaint ideas as �waste not, want not� during the 1950�s and �60�s?
Were they the Greatest Generation? They were extraordinary people, at times maddening and infuriating to us growing up in their households, yet they left their imprints on us in ways the next few generations will never appreciate.
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