America Doesn't Need The Easy Button
72Just Click It!
We May Have Perfected Easy, But We Don't Need It
Still, could you please pass The Easy Button? I like It when I can find it, which isn't often!
Over the past several months, I've been backing up. Living in reverse was giving me a small measure of comfort. The many fellow Americans I see in my business, in my neighborhood and in my closer groups are turning a bit bitter. It disturbed me, I'm bothered by our near resentment of our country. We've got problems, no doubt. How do we make a difference? Or do we fade into the background, screaming our complaints as we go?
As healthy humans, we move towards pleasure and away from pain. The economy is a pain and is causing pain. We're all begining to back up.
Rubbing elbows with my ancestors in the rooms of my mind finally brought me a few answers. When my mind travels, I've learned to follow. The destination may be cloudy for awhile, but I know my heart is true, and if I follow my thoughts, I'll end up in a good place. The best journeys, I think, are those that allow for a bit of meandering.
At the risk of boring my readers, I've opened up my past, in short bursts. What did the farm life tell me? What were the lessons learned from those hard working, sometimes odd people? I discovered it this morning. The clouds lifted and the purpose of my reverse thinking became clear.
After a Sunday breakfast out, we trekked the 20 yards out the door to the car. We like hikes. It's a good thing, because our car wouldn't start. It decided in the parking lot, at that 9-miles-away-from-home-breakfast-nook, to let its alternator die. Cars have power; cars are people too, you know.
The book I need to write is "1001 ways to have car trouble." It's my karma, coming soon to your nearest Amazon.com.
Did I mention we own stock in Auto Zone and Advanced Auto Parts? Or could, if we weren't so broke from buying their auto parts. Story of our life, literally.
So, I'm steering the dead power steering wheel to the right, and Lynn is hollering "Cut 'er deep!" whatever that means. I'm not as good as he is with technical terms.
He's grunting and groaning and turning purple while he's pushing us backwards across the parking lot. See, I told you I was backing up. We get to a spot where we're blocking only 2 cars, and we stop and raise the hood. At that precise moment, the answer to my recent trip down the country lanes in my mind occured to me.
They had grit. Not grits, like you cook on the stove, although they were plenty. But, GRIT, as in guts, bravery, boredom, spirit. They knew what to do, when the going got tough. They never quit, they never stopped believing, they were Job (the Bibilical Job) in action.
My Aunt Gussie's home was plain, simple, clean, and didn't get in the way of life. You would never have stumbled over things, because she didn't have a lot of things. Her pantry was full, her bank account was full, but her life was uncluttered and simple. Everyday, she knew what to do, what her job was, and she did it, come what may. She made her rules, lived her life by them and didn't bother anyone else unless they broke one of her rules inside her home or in her garden.
My Uncle Finley lost crops to grasshoppers, lost cattle to disease, lost corn to draught. Everyday he plowed his ground, planted his peanuts and corn and watermelons, and hoed his potatoes. When the Gods smiled on him, there was hay in the barn and gas in the truck. When the winds of change and trial blew, he held on tight to the windmill of life; as the storm passed, he picked up the pieces, helped his neighbors pick up their pieces, and plowed straight ahead.
When my grandmother lost her son to the North Korean War, she attended the funeral given to a heroic pilot (his story to be told later), cried her river of tears, and stood as tall as her 5' 2" height would allow. She lost two husbands to death, divorced the other two who tried to take her money, and worked herself towards a stroke, cooking on her feet 12 hours a day. She told her funny stories and kept her simple house, laughing 'til she cried 'most everyday.
When my mother lost her eyesight and her top secret space program job as a result, I asked her one day, as I cried at 14, "Mom, what do you do, when you can't do what you used to do?" I really wanted to know where all of the hardship was taking her, us.
She paused and cleared the emotion from her voice and told me the most important tip of my life: "Marisue, when you can't do, what you normally do, you find something else to do." And, she did. I miss her now.
When my dad kept the family going with endless self sacrifice, jokes and winks behind every sentence, hidden tears and those that were left unshed keeping his eyes moist and alive, and always spurred us on to take another step with just his presence, I followed. I miss him today.
When Aunt Lady, my youngest great aunt, watched, over time, her 9 brothers and sisters pass away before her, we marveled and laughed at her funny stories. This one got me everytime:
Aunt Lady and her husband, Raymond, were moving down the road about 5 miles, in their rural community. With a heavily loaded truck, they finally got the last mattress on top and took off down the country trail. People were honking and waving at the funny overloaded truck bouncing down the road. Uncle Raymond became embarassed and gunned the truck, speeding up to 5 miles an hour instead of 3. People honked and finally made him realize he'd lost his mattress a few hundred yards back.
Uncle Raymond, being a quick thinker, slammed on the brakes. He jumped out of the truck, ran back to the mattress and pushed and pulled it back to the truck. Sweating, he finally got it on top once more and fell into the truck grunting and groaning. Aunt Lady was laughing so hard her chubby body shook from trying to stop.
Uncle Raymond snorted in disgust and grouchily said "What is so dern funny!"
Aunt Lady couldn't speak for several seconds. When words came they were gruff, short, and to the point. "Why on earth didn't you back the truck up to the mattress instead of running back to get it?"
Uncle Raymond was stunned into silence. Speechless, he looked out of the window at the hot summer day. The flies were noisily buzzing in and out of the truck. and he swatted at them in annoyance.
Finally, he looked at her, and said, "Well, why didn't YOU.."
She replied, "Raymond, you know I don't drive."
Anyone who heard her dramatic re-enactment of that tale, laughed untl they cried. They survived, saved 95 cents of every dollar they earned, decorated their lovely home in town with homemade everything, and lived to the fullest.
All of these people grew up in the depression. They often didn't know where the next meal was coming from, didn't have the air conditioning that makes my life so bearable, until late in their life. When times were hard, they shared food and enjoyed get-togethers and long conversations on dark porches.
They, too, had Presidents they liked and didn't like. They griped about the cost of feed and government regulations on what they planted. They complained about the preacher's boring talk on Sunday, and sometimes counted days after a young hometown girl's marriage date to the birth of her first child. If it was 2 days less than 9 months, they nodded knowingly.
They built barns, hid from tornadoes and fought hardship, pushing back with all their might. They were fearless warriors, imperfect and not expecting perfection.
Where was their courage and their heart? Buried right "smack-dab" in the middle of their love for America. It never wavered. They fought for change, paved new highways of opportunity, invention, and sacrifice. If they had biases, I never knew it from the hands they extended to others. If they disagreed with rules and regulations, they showed up in long lines to vote.
If they were mad, sad, glad, or bored, they cooked, canned, shared, and gathered. They tightened up. They had joy. They made peace, letting it shine in all they said, did, cried over, celebrated.
When they couldn't do, what they normally did, they did something else.
They kept their pride; they loved this land; they loved their God; they loved this life, THEY KEPT GOING.
And, so will I. To honor that great legacy. so will I.
To Write Is To Live Forever
The stories and lives of
yesterday
live on to strengthen those
of today, because
I am Marisue, and I write.
Every Writer's Dream
The above picture wisely says:
"A pencil once met a piece of paper and there a story began
Not only told with words, but doodles and pictures as well.
The Man Upstairs just kept pushing that pencil and the paper and pen agreed
This was something beautiful... "
Share it! — Rate it: up down [flag this hub]
Comments
Marisue, it’s a shame so many of the depression era people are gone. They were a tough, hard-working, resourceful lot and we could (can) learn a lot from them. Sounds like you have a rich heritage to draw from when you need it most. You're a good writer as well, thanks for sharing your insights
J
Constant, I always appreciate your read. It'll be here, I end up reading a lot at night. =)
Jeanette, thanks so much for your comment, and for liking this story. It was an answer for me, to a question that I had been pursuing, life, etc.
well done marisue,as we all are waiting for your next writing treat!!!
Ipearce, That was wonderful of you to say that...more coming up!! Thanks for reading and commenting!!
Marisue You have a talent with words. you may yet have a "gone with the wind" of the depression era lurking in your fingertips waiting to be unleashed.
Great Happy sad read.
Sixtyorso, wowowow YOU made my day! I just might write another of these very soon!! Thanks so much for reading as always!!
Wonderful! "Rubbing elbows with my ancestors in the rooms of my minnd" great...and your relatives...so fantastic to keep these people and your memories alive! Yep. The point is To Remember...and to share. Best!
hi desert blondie, how/s life in your corner?? Thank you for enjoying this...I'm going to try to write more about the people in my life who taught so much just by living their values, everyday. =) Thanks again for reading and commenting...email me when u have time.
Very nice mariesue! Very nice indeed! I miss my grandparents alot. You could learn alot from the people of that era. I'm glad you wrote it.
wonderfully said my dear....wonderfully. And I know people the same..and I do believe the most of us Americans are very hard working and care very much...but seems too many people arrive and want it the way the country they came from had it...and we do try.
The world is getting over crowded...over run..and we all feel the crunch.some of more then others..but I know we all love our country...that's why soo many want to be here....We are cool...free and good people.
Great Hub and also looking for the next...G-Ma :o) hugs
I think you touched on some of what ails our country today ... far too many people looking for the easy button.
I like what Jim Rohn said, "It is not what you get in life but what you become in life that counts. Strive to become more - not to get more."
I think we need to be more like the people you described so well ... the people that built this country. I think because most of us simply are benefiting but did not actively participate in the building, we do not appreciate and value what we have. If we don't value things we are bound to use them foolishly and ultimately lose them.
Amen!
Thanks for sharing with us!
hoverdawg72, I appreciate your comments and am so glad you wrote your piece on some of the history of WWII and other info on America, thanks for reading this - I wanted people who are discouraged about our country to realize that America has always had challenges - but her people love her, and keep moving forward. We are that kind of nation, that kind of citizen. To be discouraged and to quit trying to find the solutions, is to allow weakness to win.
The pioneers of our country, were never weak.
G-ma, thanks for stopping by, I know our citizens are good, you are right. As a whole we are stronger than we are alone. We need to keep the good things about freedom in front of our eyes and in our voice. =)
John, I think we all have people like my relatives in our past. Our ancestors sacrificed, were worried in their daily life too. but they still loved and served their country, they kept putting one foot in front of the other, they moved forward! Thank you for seeing what I was trying to say. I will definitely keep writing with this goal in mind: We make our future...what will it be?
MtnMan56, thank you for reading and understanding...stop by again, soon!
This was wonderful. I kinda didn't want the stories to end....and with any luck, they haven't; perhaps the next generations will tell of our fortitude as well.
Nah...who am I kidding? :-) Seriously, though. Thank you for those memories and the ones in my own life upon whose embers you have blown.
CJ
Hi cjcjs I think when we realize that all generations have their struggles...we'll feel able to survive our current dilemma. We can do it, we must do it. They didn't quit. neither cann we. And, while they lived, they had joy, they were not a depressed lot....they loved people and their country. I do too. =) thanks for reading!!
Mariesue: What a great hub full of inspiring stories wonderfully presented. Although my generation (X) didn't see the depression, my grandparents did.
Growing up, I often heard retellings of WPA projects, building your own home, growing your own food, neighbors looking out for each other, and an altogether calmer pace of life. I may be a bit short in the tooth, but somewhere inside I long for those days. They may never come again. But the truth and romance they refer to will always be. I look forward to your next installment.
Words of wisdom! Nice Job!
Hi Rob, I really appreciate your comments. These hubs are coming from the heart of my memories, and I think they definitely apply to our current times. It's not just remembering, but pulling the lessons from yesteryears, and you understood that and I'm grateful to you for letting me know. It inspires me to write more, and "we writers" need that, yes?
I am finding so many of us as we write about America are expressing discontent, myself included. I think we need to remember that we're not alone, our ancestors gave us many clues to life skills regarding how to cope with hard times and stress and even war. Most certainly war. One day soon, we will be back in our home state, living more off the land, and slowing down some. I crave that as well, so I know what you're talking about when you refer to the longing.
Life, has become complicated, yet maybe it always has been. I didn't walk 5 miles thru the snow to school, but when I got there, stress was found in the halls instead of during the walk. You know? We can change America, without hating America. We can change the political players, without hating America. We can, we must. We have huge freedom to celebrate. An expensive gift given to us from those past. How do we honor it? By shouting to the world we're better than them...we solve nothing. I don't want to better than them, -- perhaps being better than we were yesterday is enough??
You spurred more thoughts of mine...I feel another writing is born. =)
Steve, thanks so much for reading. I am so glad it meant something to you. We are citizens of a great nation, which carries great responsibility not only to the world, but to our own areas. No one, today, can just be a citizen, and not think about our individual "mark, or value" and what we give back. We matter, we make a difference. Like it or not, we are either positive or negative -- sometimes both. =) Stay tuned for more!
Good stuff. I live that quote, "When you can't do what you normally do, you find something else to do." True words of wisdom.
My sorta-grandma did a lot of cooking, too. Cooking and knitting. Her chocolate "Wacky Cake" was the best anywhere, and at one time, everybody was in possession of, and wore all the time, a pair of wram, fuzzy, custom ("pick two colors, dammit!") hand-knitted slippers.
When she died, so did the cake and the slippers... perhaps that's as it should have been.
Great hub, M.
=) =) =0 =) I like it when you talk like that - LOL seriously, thanks for the comment, as always!!
America may not need an easy button, but I sure could use one.
After teaching high schoolers every day, I know the current generation wants an easy button and think they deserve it. America is still of capable of greatness, unfortunately we will need another depression to achieve it.
grshelton3, it does seem that we are going backwards for awhile, we can survive, if we remember those who did and how they did it. I love our conveniences, but think we may lose a few of them.
We'll come back stronger. Thanks for reading and commenting...come back soon! =)
Wow.
What is an "easy button"?
Is life ever easy? Hard work would only make us stronger as a people, it always does for other people. Marisue showed this by describing the remarkable resourcefulness of her relatives and friends. I am not so sure that having to be "resourceful" would make things "harder", as at least we would feel more like we were doing something about our problems rather than standing idly by waiting for that "easy button" and being anxious at the same time.
I know this for sure, as far as I go there is nothing that torments me more than expecting the easy road and feeling anxious when I could just take the hard road and get rid of my anxiety through action.
Oops double comment
Its ok Zarm, I deleted your shorter one for you and put in your full one.. happens to me all the time, me and "buttons..." LOL Back to your comments: I wrote this because not only do I find our current times the most challenging economically and politicaly in my own lifetime, I felt the need to draw some strength from our ancestors.
What am I going to leave behind for my kids and the generations to follow? I hope strength, spirit, faith, belief, knowledge, and love of life, family, friends and country.
Nothing wrong with searching for "easy" - mankind has always invented an "easier" way to do something. That's good thinking. However, to expect life to be easy personally and professionally. and fail to meet challenges head on with optimism, is not doing our ancestors right. =) I could go on forever....thank you so much for reading and commenting! Come back soon!
I loved your "...nothing that torments me more than expecting the easy road and feeling anxious when I could just take the hard road and get rid of my anxiety through action." Right on!
Thanks for this great hub! The thought I am left with is that it's *easier* for someone who works hard in the gym day in and day out to lift 500lbs than it is for someone who sits on the couch all day to do the same. I heard a quote somewhere that goes something like, "That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has changed but our ability to do it has improved."
Pete, you got the message I wanted to say!! I love your quote, it's exactly right, when we're prepared, and "work out" the hard is easy or easier, simply thru our effort....very appropriate quote! My sons used to work out and lift weights in high school. The 300 lbs or 400 lbs they pushed with their legs stayed the same, but they grunted less. thank you for being so insightful! Come back soon
Marisue, you've just described soooo beautifully the lives of my dad's two brothers and their wives! One of Aunt Kathleen's favorite sayings was also 'If you can't do a thing, do something else'. They were self-suffient to the core. If you couldn't grow it or make it or get it second-hand or by bartering, you probably didn't need it. And oh how they laughed! All the time. They found joy in everything. Some would say they had a hard life, living off the land and making practically everything they had with their own hands. But they would've said they just did what had to be done to have the things that made life worth living.
I got a huge laugh out of Aunt Lady and Raymond moving, owing to several side-splitting tales of my aunts' and uncles' moves involving mattresses balanced precariously on top of everything else. This is how the story would've played out with them.
Kathleen would've helped Uncle Melvin drag the mattress back to the truck. 'Share the work, share the joy.'
But Aunt Florence, an Oklahoma preacher's daughter and a redhead, soon as her husband got out on his side, would've been yelling out the window on her side: "For godssakes, Roy! Just back up the damned truck!".
I miss them all so much.
Jama, it's wonderful that we had such similar relatives! I feel so connected to you now!! My Aunt was laughing so hard she couldn't even yell at him to come back and get the truck.ahhaha You're right in your description of those times, as well. They always found something to laugh about, even at funerals, no disrespect was ever intended. As they honored their loved ones, they brought up many funny stories. I loved being around this group!!
They are all gone now, but not in my memory. Thank you for sharing your story as well!!
I always thought the key to the joy on that side of the family was that they'd been lucky enough to find and marry their True Loves, which made weathering bad times much easier. The four of them just genuinely enjoyed each other's company. Alas, my dad wasn't so lucky...married a stick-in-the-mud who never quite "got" why Daddy and the rest were practically ROTFL. A woman who wouldn't pad to the bathroom in the middle of the night without slippers...made her nuts that Kathleen and Florence went barefoot most of the time, a habit I adopted too. Which made us all "just a bunch of heathens!". Maybe...but it sure felt good to wiggle our toes in the grass while we snapped fresh-picked peas and green beans. =)
Glad to hear your people laughed at funerals too!
Funerals on my dad's side are more like Celebrity Roasts. There won't be a dry eye in the church...from laughing...which upsets My Mother's Other Child no end. He stood up in the middle of Uncle Melvin's service and announced we should all be ashamed, that this was no way to act at a *funeral*. (One guess which side most of his genes came from.) We only tolerate him because it's the only time we get to see his lovely, otherwise-intelligent wife, who oddly hasn't died of boredom (or embarrassment). Plus they do lend an artistic air to the gathering when they stand off by themselves afterwards posed like the Grant Wood painting, American Gothic. =)
Jama -- oh my, we are "stuck" with some relatives, hahaha -- I can sympathize, they sound like characters...makes the family interesting....ya gotta laugh --
I long for those down to earth days...things seemed so much more real. We will just have to put what we learned then, into our living now!. I'd love to have some of my aunt and uncles around to ask how... how did they do it?
I'll do my best to remember what I can, and make 'em proud. =) thank you for sharing your memories...I enjoyed it so!! =)
You show some very impressive writing skills in this hub. Nice work!
02SmithA, Marisue's writing skills are very impressive no matter the subject. If you haven't done so already, check out her other hubs. You're in for a treat!
02SmithA and JamaGenee WOW, thank you both, and Jama, I sooo appreciate the vote of confidence!! I'm working on 3 hubs, Diggin' In the Devil's Toolbox (the conclusion of the Hell's Series, another Tales From the Badge, and Heart's Apart - an exerpt from a book on foster care I'm writing...whew pant pant, LOL
You have just given me the energy to get back to work, the writing God's are smilin' on me tonight by inspiring your comments....again, I thank you!! =)
"Now that was easy!"
Hi Research Analyst !!! LOL thanks !! come back soon
Dear Marisuewrites,
I have to stop reading your hubs now so I can find some time writing myself. Before I stop, can you hub on "writing real fast"?
regards,
Hi Benson Yeun!! I'm so glad you've been reading yeaaaa! come back sooon, and I'll go read your hubs now...=)))
I just talk too much...and am working on a few books, so my fingers just can't quit.
Hi Marisue,
You have described what I have called "must-go-oness" or MGO. I use MGO quite a bit myself - the only other choice is giving up. Your observation "When they couldn't do, what they normally did, they did something else" is state of the art MGO:)
Hi Peace Now!! we can look back and learn a lot about survival...to complain has no value, unless we act on it.
I like the MGO !! =)))
working
Constant Walker says:
2 months ago
Nice, Marisue. So much to read, so little time. But, nice.