Old Man of the Sea (Part V)
We've followed the life experiences of Old Man of the Sea for about 35 years
so far, spanning great changes in almost every facet of American life. A mostly
self taught Christian who pioneered the on-line method of education (books
instead of computers), he was a faithful reader of scripture every day. We
continue our chat with the social upheaval during and following the Great
Depression. It is noteworthy to see how that depression compares with
present day problems, and how America was fixed with major changes in
society.
Pastor: Your business was doing well in spite of the depression. How about
other members of the community?
Old Man of the Sea: Well, because I lived in a mostly rural area, the depression
hadn't hit that hard. This was an area of small family farms and the small businesses
that served them. Lack of big businesses and extra large industries was a blessing.
The only local industries were places like the milk plant and canning factory. Their
production was always needed, and layoffs were rare.
Pastor: I take it the community was closely knit together.
Old Man of the Sea: Yes it was. Everybody didn't necessarily know everybody
else, but most at least knew about the others. Early on, the front porch of my
store became the community gathering area during spring, summer and fall
evenings. There were usually a dozen or more people, many different ones
through the week. It was our local radio and tv network. There wasn't much
griping. People were genuinely concerned about others. There wasn't any lack
of jobs or welfare. They were quite knowledgeable about programs being
discussed in congress and by the President.
Pastor: Because those programs are somewhat misunderstood by today's
younger generations, lets go over them one at a time. My understanding is some
of those programs are still vital today, although there is quite a bit of criticism.
Old Man of the Sea: If today's critics could see how life-saving those programs
continue to be today, they'd go back to school to see what else they had missed.
Most of the critics have never missed a meal, let alone many meals. Most have
always had a roof over their head. Until recently, most have always had a well
paying job. Most have never needed medical care they couldn't get. Most have no
idea how the tax system works. To sum it up, our educational system has become
a failure.
Pastor: All right. Let's delay those big social programs to take a look at
education, both Christian and secular. From what level of the educational
process do you base your comment?
Old Man of the Sea: From kindergarten through advanced college degrees. I
was well respected in that rural community. They made me trustee of the local
school district. This was no big deal, because our district was a one room school.
There were three such districts in the township, and ours was the smallest. In
addition to being trustee, I was the school board, the superintendent and the
principal. School administrators really did work in those days, and I received
exactly no pay or reimbursement of any kind. I did all the bookwork, ordered
the books and supplies, took care of maintenance and everything except the
teaching. Actually I did have quite a bit of influence on that, too, since I interviewed
and hired the teachers.
Pastor: How did you find time to run the store?
Old Man of the Sea: I had a very competent wife and I worked long hours. The
store was open at 7 a.m.--sometimes earlier if someone needed something badly
and showed up earlier, and didn't close until after 10 p.m.
Pastor: What were the teachers like at that time, and did your little school have
extras like library books and playground equipment?
Old Man of the Sea: We had a nice library, believe it or not. There was rarely
a problem with two kids wanting to take out the same book. I went to an abandoned
country school not far away and bought their playground equipment. Then I hand
dug out the cement holding the supports in place and hand dug new holes for them.
That was a pretty exhausting chore, but the kids really appreciated it. The teachers
at that time were wonderful. That was a very respected field, although the pay was
very poor. It was one occupation that women could hope to excel in. Experienced
teachers secured jobs with larger districts, town and city schools. That meant the
new graduates had to find jobs with districts like ours. Their attitude was much
different from many teachers today.
Pastor: Do you believe teacher attitude has changed that much?
Old Man of the Sea: Believe it. All those young women were focused on helping
children to learn. They were highly accomplished teachers, even starting out. There
were no Christian schools at that time in our area except the Catholic schools. The
Catholic schools today still do a good job. Our teachers lived in the country and had
to perform the functions of janitor, heat technician, special subject instruction, regular
instruction and counselor. They arrived at the school before the students, had to
build a wood fire and conduct the classes. Most were musical and could give the
kids some basic music instruction. They had a rhythm band, and the teachers wrote
and directed special programs such as for Christmas. They taught the kids how to
make ornaments out of colored cardboard and all sorts of homey art. First graders
heard the lessons of eighth graders. It is no wonder those kids learned so much,
because they kept hearing the subjects taught year after year. The attitudes of
the kids was better, too, because our first graders were usually A students. There
never was a complaint from a teacher about salary, and there were no benefits.
These teachers came to instruct students. I will say that teachers today, although
very well paid, have a rough time because many kids have an attitude against
school, have overly big mouths, are disruptive and not controllable because of the
do-gooders' attitude that punishment will hurt the little dears.
Pastor: Do you think parents are largely responsible for this problem?
Old Man of the Sea: I'll answer that question with a question. Why has it become
necessary for colleges to add courses on ethics? They took prayer out of the
schools. They took God out of the schools. In many cases both parents or single
family moms have to work, and kids never get churched. It's our society problem.
Pastor: Getting back to the programs begun in the 30s to pull us out of the Great
Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the key figure.
Old Man of the Sea: Yes he was.but don't forget it is Congress that passes the
laws, and the president is charged with administering the laws. All too frequently
I hear the president blamed for taxes and programs. He doesn't make the laws,
congress does. In the 30s, Roosevelt was the person who made proposals for new
rules, regulations and laws. These proposals were credited to him whether they were
good or bad. I'm not going to praise or criticize. He inherited a terrible economic mess
from the previous administration that left America in tatters. He also realized we were
missing the warnings of possible future war.
Pastor: What I recall from history is that at least some of these proposals were
economically revolutionary.
Old Man of the Sea: That is a good way to explain it. It was hard for the common
man, especially those like where we lived, to understand what happened and what
caused it. We knew it wasn't the working man. Wages were very low and there
were no big unions. Farmers weren't getting rich, and small businessmen like me
were making a comfortable living, but none of us could save much for the future.
We sort of figured the mess was created by excesses at the top, the lack of any
sort of control over the wealthy industrialists, the corporations and bankers. The
proposals by Roosevelt would change that with programs such as social security,
fair wages and projects to put men to work building things like dams and roads.
Pastor: But the public didn't embrace these proposals?
Old Man of the Sea: There was a lot of opposition, because the people didn't
trust the government. In a rural community like ours, people were pretty
conservative, no matter which political party they belonged to. They saw the
Tennessee Valley Project get underway, and that required the taking of lots of
private property, farmland and residences. Eminent domain was something they
didn't understand, and nobody wanted to have to leave land that had been in
the family for generations. The government didn't handle that too well, and some
of the people who had to move got violent. Most of the projects were good for
the nation, as electricity became available where it wasn't available previously,
it brought some flood control, roads were improved and conservation of soil and
water was recognized for its importance to the future.
Pastor: What about social security and finances?
Old Man of the Sea: That was not really understood, either. We didn't have all
the information available in the media today. Many thought social security wouldn't
work. Without it, the responsibility for caring for the elderly was on the shoulders
of family members and the county. Since wages were low, laborers never made
enough money to save for retirement. County facilities operated Poor Houses.
where the elderly could go to live. It was food and shelter. The last one I am
familiar with closed in the mid 70s. Many people in my age group lost money when
the banks shut down, and they never trusted banks again. The failure of the
financial system was clearly a lack of controls and regulations. As Roosevelt
proposed the changes, Congress enacted them. Big business and the wealthy
industrialists hated Roosevelt and the Democrats for stopping their greedy grip
on common Americans. Some things that were necessary for these changes
required some deficit spending. It was ironic that the money people complained
about this, since they had created the excesses that caused the crash.
Pastor: And while all this was happening, people didn't realize the world was
rapidly moving to the "Big One", World War Two?
Old Man of the Sea: That's right. Economics held their attention. God was
observing all these activities, and He obviously saw much He disliked. Americans
violated so much of His Word, you should expect He would do something about
it. He did, in the form of World War II. He showed us great mercy, however,
because He did not place us into captivity. We violated almost every rule. To
show you the rules we violated, turn to Galatians 5:19-21. "Now the works of the
flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and of
such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that
they that do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." That pretty well
sums up the Roaring Twenties, and to some extent, the first quarter century in
America.
Pastor: Was the lack of money the major factor in bringing Americans back to
biblical principles?
Old Mam of the Sea: You bet. There's nothing like major problems to bring
people to God. We had gone through the blessing period, where lives were
improved, and the period where most people thought they had everything and
didn't need God. Now they were trying to rebuild the country, which they couldn't
do without divine help. In this period--from 1932 until World War II began--the
Nazis took over all power in Germany and began their extermination policy of
eliminating Israel. In one way, this was a sort of "carrot" dangled before us to
try and get attention away from ourselves, and directed to one of the worst acts
of mankind underway in Germany.
Pastor: You're saying we ignored the plight of European Jews and major world
problems because we were selfishly seeking restoration of the things we lost in
the Great Depression?
Old Man of the Sea: That's exactly correct. There was still a sizable part of our
society that hated Jews. There also were many Americans who were blatantly
against blacks. Americans don't know their history, and almost no one realizes
that Hitler established his first concentration camp in 1933. That was eight years
before we entered World War II. Congress and the general public refused to pay
any attention to the plight of the Jews, or, for that matter, that America would
eventually either have to take a stand or go into captivity.
Pastor: Do you really believe America could have gone into captivity had we
not taken a stand after Pearl Harbor?
Old Man of the Sea: Absolutely. We had one major act that enabled us to prevent
that, and we were more or less forced to that. God never abandons His people,
and we were needed to save His people. Of course, as Christians, we are also
grafted on that tree of eternal life. Although for whatever reason, the documents
drawn up by the German and Japanese for "dividing the spoils of war", have never
been circulated to the general public. Make no mistake, they had such great early
success in the war before America became involved, they had big plans for us
after they achieved victory.
Pastor: Wasn't it odd our leaders missed all this war activity?
Old Man of the Sea: Not so much. Many of our leaders, especially the politicians,
were big losers in the Great Depression, and they were eager to gain back their
losses. Their attention, as usual, was on making profits. It was more difficult now,
because they couldn't exploit children and they had to pay workers a fair wage.
There was also the problem of Jew hatred. Like the German leaders, many Americans
considered the Jews greedy and money loving. The fact that many Jews were well
educated and intelligent, were personally principled, and diligent workers was
completely overlooked. Once again we see that even many of the "Christians" at that
time obviously didn't read or study the bible. If they had, they would of paid serious
attention to Genesis 12:3, "And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that
curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."
Pastor: So Hitler had his concentration camps eight years before we entered the
war.
Old Man of the Sea: That's right. We ignored a terrible problem, and worse yet,
the Nazis also were gathering Gypsies, Slavs, the Polish, Ukrainians, homosexuals
and the disabled. These people were also exterminated. Americans--the general
public--really didn't know much about this. Congress refused to recognize or do
anything about it. Most of them were businessmen or professionals such as lawyers
and bankers, and they didn't want to get involved in a conflict that was rapidly
escalating. The attitude was much like that of today: I have mine (good life), let them
get their own.
Pastor: It still amazes me that we let this mass murder go on for eight years without
doing anything about it.
Old Man of the Sea: Well, we still have people who claim the holocaust never
happened even though we have thousands of eye witnesses still alive, our troops,
Nazi records, pictures and film. The attitude of many Americans today shows such
a detachment for less fortunate people.
Pastor: We'll continue this chat in our next message.
Rev. Walbear
