Thrift

We didn't have much when I was young. It was during World War II.  My dad had another year to go in college in Texas when he met the one who would be my mom in West Virginia, while selling Bibles door to door to pay his tuition.  Getting loans back then wasn't the popular thing to do  as it is now.  It took a lot of hard work to  earn one's way through school, but that is what my dad and most did at that time.   He didn't have wealthy parents to finance him.

He moved to WV and got married.  My mother's foster parents were old and had died.  Mom and dad lived on the farm for a while and then we moved to Marmet so that my dad could work in the electric plant.
At least he didn't have loads of debt like many who go to college today borrowing their way through.  They started with nothing, but at least they were not in the hole.

They got an apartment on the second floor near the plant where my dad worked. I was the smallest of the neighborhood children, excluding babies. We assimilated easily and enjoyed our friends there.

Dad did not have 'wheels' as most people now.  He had to use public transportation or walk to work and back.  Knowing dad, he walked because he was always wanting to save and to pay as he went, not believing in running up a debt.

Oh, that we had  continued to train people to sacrifice for a time  so that they could some day have a nice home, etc.  Now, young people think they deserve the very best right out of school.  They feel like they are too good to take work that is beneath them.  We should have taught them that honest work is always good.  Sometimes, they need to take what they think is a meaningless job  to show their capabilities.  But often now, people would rather take welfare than to work for less than they think they deserve.

Well, it looks like the time has come when we either sink or swim against the tide. We need to resurrect the  phrase, 'hard work never hurt nobody'.  The English isn't correct, but it will feed you when times are bad.