Echoes of a crash
Bert and Rawel pulled along the seamlessly endless row of furrows as Granddad held the handles of the plow and the reins that guided the mules.
The year’s crops had been a success and had brought a good price and the second turning was to help provide some extra fall greens for Grandma to can, along with pumpkins to sell.
Bert and Rawel would gain a bit should the crop succeed as they always enjoyed grazing upon a few of the greens that their labor helped create. Granddad always planted a few extra rows just for that treat for the family’s constant companions in the daily work.
When the greens and pumpkins were closing in on perfection, Granddad was leaning back upon the fence looking out across the fields, when the world news wound its way through the mountains and valleys, to the farm as one of the neighbor boys Jeb rode up to tell him about the news of the stock market crash.
This financial news did not matter much in the valley but it was the unusual to hear of rich folks jumping out windows in the face of the losses that helped to carry the news wider than it would have normally went.
The last time really big news came through was during World War I, which news took many young men with it and some did not return. This news would have the similar impact but it wouldn’t come for a few years yet before many of the local farmers would find the local banks unable to finance the next crop and without the ability to make a new crop, those who had mortgages were paddling against the current and some would lose in their effort.
Many of the banks closed their doors and the farms were left unplanted. Bert and Rawel managed to keep working on Granddad’s furrows. Granddad worked to hold the valley together and thankfully, he was able to help a few folks get a new start rather than letting their farm go back to the bank, some sharecropped, some loaded up their truck and went west in search for greener grass.
It would be years though before the greener grass would grow again across the land.
Coming through those lean years would build the characters of the youth of the valley. As they came of age, their strength would fuel the call to stand up against tyranny around the world becoming the Greatest Generation.
Perhaps it was the steady strides of Bert and Rawel that kept growing the furrows of the family farm and the strong hands of Granddad that guided many of the valley youth through the upheaval. Plowing a straight furrow day after day prepared so many for what was ahead. As we face each and every day, sometimes I think back upon those walking barefooted behind the plow in hot sun feeling the dirt rise up through their toes.
As we each look towards what may be ahead in our own valley, if we keep our focus upon taking care of our neighbors, walking a straight furrow, and inspiring the youth, maybe we can inspire another great generation.
