More thoughts on the Great Depression from:
http://newdeal.feri.org/sevier/essays/advice.htm
The Great Depression meant scary times for many households as a period of economic downturn spread throughout the world. Historians trace its start to the "Black Tuesday" stock crash on October 29, 1929, and argue that the resulting global desperation set the stage for World War II.
LeBlanc said her grandparents were fortunate that they didn't have investments and could grow -- or catch -- their own food during the Depression years.
Her grandfather Lester was a "Cajun cowboy" often
Crystal Bell
The Depression taught me to appreciate the things that we have. I think anyone benefits from having to go without things. Then when you get something, why you really appreciate it and you really learn how to spend your money. Just a little advice to younger generations; I would say they better start saving as soon as they get married so they'll have something to fall back on if there ever comes a depression. Savings is one of the best things you can do, save a little bit out of your pay check each month, so you always have a nest egg.
Verla Breinholt
Living through the Great Depression has caused me to be tight. I don't ever want to throw anything away. My old coats, dresses and pant suits hang in the closet; well, we might need to use them again. I guess I'm not so bad that way now, but I used to be.
My advice for the future: don't splurge; be economical with everything.
Ruth Hansen
I think the only way it affected our children is that we have had to work hard, and we taught them all to work hard, and to be thrifty. And maybe we taught them too much of the work ethic, to live in this day and age, because they all feel they have to accomplish so much. But we lived a good life and had a good family; they all went through school and graduated, and they all have good jobs, and I think we are quite successful. Or they were successful with us, one of the two. We've been a real close family. And I think there are a lot of lessons to be learned by the obstacles that we have to overcome and that's what a depression amounts to.
The thing that living through the Depression has done for me is to feel bad for the young people now that they don't know how to appreciate what they have, and to get along. I think they're not disciplined enough so that they don't have their own way so much that it's sad. And people just say I'm gonna have it or else, and you can't tell me no because I won't take no, you know; it's just a different . . . attitude. And in that day and age you were just supposed to help your neighbor. If he was having problems, you were supposed to be over there helping, take their horses and machinery and go and help them put in their crops, or whatever needed to be done they did. You were neighbors; and if you went to town, you yelled at your neighbor or stopped and asked them if there was anything they needed and you would get it while you were over there or whatever you could do to help them, much more than we are now. We are too self-centered now days.
Lorna Jensen
If we had another Depression, I would say if you could, learn a craft that you could use even if you weren't able to go to school. Anything that would be interesting to you, like sewing or cooking. I think it's good for young people to learn how to take care of the home, how to do those things that they kind of like to get out of now-a-days.
Novella Mulford
At my age I can see that a lot of the old remedies and things that we did, for instance, like making our soap, and the young kids today would have no idea how to handle things. So I think it would be a good thing if the young kids would learn a few of these old time recipes or whatever you want to call it. Learn to do a few of these things like use herbs and what-not; people didn't have chance to go to the doctor and so I think young people can learn from a lot of these things. I think this is a great idea, to have these young kids interview us older people because they can sort of get an insight of what our life was like. I am grateful to have been able to live in that era, and today. What a difference, and I'm sure the next fifty years will bring us as many changes as the past fifty have.
MSN Video Interview of those who survived the Depression
http://video.msn.com/dw.aspx?mkt=en-us&vid=5fa0ae2d-f3c5-44bc-baf1-17868293f6ce&pkw=PI&vendor=Paid+Inclusion&OCID=iSEMPI