Scott City Musings: Shielding our youth

I got to thinking about our country and the youth the other day. My wife and I grew up when indoor plumbing wasn’t all that common. I can remember using an outhouse until I was almost in high school. Dad had figured out how to install a pitcher pump by the kitchen sink so when you wanted water, you pumped it by hand. Once a week, we took a bath in a galvanized metal tub in water heated on the kitchen stove. The youngest went first on down to Dad who was last. We helped Mom and Dad garden, milk cows, gather eggs, feed whatever was needed from chickens to cows, etc.

But you go back a generation to Mom and Dad growing up and it was rougher. Mom, along with her two sisters and parents, immigrated to the U.S. from Denmark. They settled on a small place north of Arthur and built a sod house where they lived. For heat, the whole family would gather cow chips for fuel to stay warm during the winter, as well as to cook year-round. Money was scarce so the garden was a “got to do” project. As I grew up, it was necessary, but for Mom and Dad as they grew up, it was vitally necessary. Dad’s kinfolk came to the Sandhills from Pennsylvania with wagons pulled with horses. For Dad, a trip to the doctor was an 80-mile journey with horses and a wagon. One of my kinfolk fell off a windmill tower and was being taken by horse and wagon to Alliance, Nebraska, an 80-mile trip, but he didn’t make it. An eighth grade education where Dad grew up was about as good as one got.

As we have gone from generation to generation, we have intended to make it better for those coming up. We have intended to provide, for instance, a better Christmas for our kids than what we had growing up. Instead of having to work for a car, maybe buy them a car. Maybe buy designer clothes rather than hand-me-downs. Air Jordon’s rather than the canvas red or black tennis shoes we wore.

Food has changed as well as how to prepare it. We didn’t have cereal for breakfast. Mom always cooked bacon or sausage along with eggs and toast, pancakes or French toast. We learned how to fry an egg, a hamburger or a steak. We learned when we were little how to catch a chicken and turn it into fried chicken. Mom cut the chicken up into pieces: two legs, two thighs, a back, two breasts, the wishbone, the neck and then two feet. For some, the feet were the prized piece. I venture to say most kids today can barely boil water.

Meals today are quick to prepare and many are heat and eat. Many things come in a can whereas growing up most came in a pint or quart jar Mom had canned. When you read the ingredients on the can or package, there was a whole bunch you couldn’t pronounce. When you opened a jar of home-canned green beans, frozen corn, peaches, pears or tomatoes, that was what you got. We’ve supposedly made life easier for our kids and their kids, but I kind of wonder if it’s as good as the old ways.

I don’t think there is an easy solution. When money was short, simple things such as plain tennis shoes had value. Homemade shirts or dresses were valued because of who made them and the material used. More attention or value was placed on the lifespan of an item rather than what it would cost to replace it.

The get-the-free lifestyle many are familiar with fails to teach values such as a job and having to pay one’s bills. Our cats, if we feed them enough cat food, won’t bother to catch a mouse. Getting our Nation back to work and back to God I believe will solve many of our problems or at least be a good start.

Just me,

Rennie

Phillips began life as a cowboy, then husband and father, carpenter, a minister, gardener and writer. He may be reached at phillipsrb@hotmail.com.