This article by Ray Spitzenberger first appeared in IMAGES for May 19, East Bernard Express, East Bernard, Texas.
History and humor have always been important in my mental treasure chest, and I’ve found it impossible to keep them out of my writings. My college roommate, my opposite in every way, used to say he had no interest in history whatsoever, and was interested only in what is now and what is to be.
My counter to that was always, “Yes, but knowledge of history can help determine what is to be.”
No doubt I harbor such ideas to counter suggestions that I live in the past. Yes, I do write a lot about the 1940s, mainly because I have vivid, fond memories (some bittersweet) of those years. And I also understand the value of knowledge of the past.
My earliest memories of the past begin with a few things that happened when I was five, which would have been 1939. Yet I was born in 1934, and the decade of the 30s has always intrigued me. What happened in the 1930s led to attitudes and events in the 1940s. My parents have told me many interesting stories about the 1930s.
More so from Wikipedia than from my parents, I learned that, worldwide, the economy was bad in the 30s, there was much political unrest, and eventually these global problems led to World War II. The Wall Street crash in 1929 led to the financial difficulties of the 1930s. The Dust Bowl of the 30s made the problems even worse.
Yet, there were a lot of good memories my forebears had of the 30s, and my parents’ furniture and our ‘38 Ford were bought in the 1930s. My Wendish mother’s family had a great sense of humor and had fun in spite of hard times. Laughter in my grandparents’ home is one of the earliest fond memories I have. My Wendish grandmother’s and mother’s sense of humor influenced me greatly.
Not to trust anyone’s memory, I can tell you a few good things about the 30s according to the U. S. Census Bureau (www.census.gov). In the 1930s, Scotch tape was invented, the Boulder Dam (Hoover Dam) was completed, Gone with the Wind won the 1939 Academy Award, Superman Comics in its original form and theme debuted, Mickey Mouse in its original form and theme debuted, and Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics.
Whether it is a good thing or a bad thing, the population of the United States in the 1930s was 123,202,624 people, contrasted to 332,915,073 in the 2020s. That is more than double, isn’t it? China had 141 billion people in 2021.
History, along with my parents’ and my memories, doesn’t reveal a great deal of difference between the 30s and the 40s. World War II began on September 1, 1939, and ended on September 2, 1945, and during the early 40s, the hardships of the Great Depression continued. By the end of the war, the economy was better.
Some of my historian friends seem to believe that each decade brings about major changes. Perhaps that’s true in the cities, but not necessarily in the rural areas. Our kitchen in Dime Box in the 1940s looked like a 1930 kitchen, and my Wendish grandparents’ home looked like 1920 or earlier, non-electric ice box included. And one thing that was always present with my Wendish forebears, especially my grandparents, was their sense of humor and joy of life.
In a decade or two or three, does our “thinking” change? Is “thinking” a “progressive” phenomenon, and if it is, is that a good thing in certain aspects of life? Without an agreed upon definition of “progressive,” can we say definitively? Throughout the decades, my Christian thoughts have remained the same, and I believe that’s a good thing. My mind which always tilts toward humor comes from my forebears, and I believe that’s a good thing. In general, I’m not one to jump on a trendy bandwagon! Should you throw out past thinking with the bath water?
If you don’t study history, how can you answer those questions?
-o-
Ray Spitzenberger is a retired Wharton County Junior College teacher, a retired Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod pastor, and author of three books, It Must Be the Noodles, Open Prairies, and Tanka Schoen.