I’m starting to realize that I’m old. In my very own First Baptist Church, I am its oldest member except for Joy McDonald Anderson. She is, like me, old and not ashamed to admit it. Yes, it’s true-This past February I turned 88. And I am a little astonished to have lived so long. No fault of my own. My parents, who raised me, were all survivors of the Great Depression and this event marked every part of our lives. I liked to ask my parents about this economic phenomenon and maybe this is the best explanation I got from my dad. “Son,” he said, “there just wasn’t any money.”

After dad’s employer’s Allen grocery store went broke in the 1930s, his customers could no longer pay their bills and thus, neither could he. Times got so tough we resettled in Lula. Dad’s scheme was to farm—and he did. With the help of mom’s dad, he got himself a piece of land, a borrowed mule, a milk cow, a garden and a few chickens. He and grandpa also managed to raise 18 piglets and they got by. We had milk, eggs, and a little garden stuff to eat off the wood fired cookstove and there was the dream of actual cash when the little pigs finished out and were taken to the livestock auction in Ada. Sadly, the big sale day was a bust. The pigs went in and came out without one bid. The stockyard’s owner admitted that in his lifetime he had never seen the time you couldn’t get a bid on “finished pigs.”

That afternoon the pigs were submitted again and a bid of 50 cents each was offered. He and grandpa said no and hitched up their wagon. By the time they got back to Lula they had given most of the pigs away. Dad said the only thing good about it was they had helped several families winter-out without starving to death. And yes, those that survived the Great Depression say that some people did indeed starve to death right here in our beloved Oklahoma.

Millions of tons of black dust blew daily in the west and dust pneumonia killed hundreds of people (especially children) in Oklahoma. There was little if any welfare, food programs and or social security checks. If you had no money, you just tightened your belt and tried harder and went hungry. Or, if you were lucky enough to have an old jalopy you hit the road. Taking “America’s Main Street” people headed west burning 10-cent gas. Historians called it the worse of bad times. Many who went west found that there were no jobs there either and that they were unwanted and unwelcome. Many didn’t even make it all the way. A fact attested to by the many unmarked roadside graves on Route 66.

Then along came the war. One thing became evident. In spite of their hardships, Americans still loved their country and were willing to die for it. This same generation of tough hard-bitten Americans snapped to when the world fell into the worse war the world had ever seen. WWII was won hands down by what is now known as “America’s Greatest Generation.” And they undoubtedly were. They pulled together and saved the world from the German’s and the Jap’s efforts to conquer us. No contest when you look back at it.

After all these hectic years since the war ended, we still struggle with ideas and ideals. That’s the nature of a free people. But I do notice that the ideals of freedom as we know them are often ridiculed by some “elite” groups. Ideas such as freedom of speech and religion. The free exchange of ideas and thoughts on our liberal college campuses are under constant attack but that’s the nature of freedom. But we have to be careful that those who champion these endless arguments don’t take these freedoms away from us. Or to put it this way: When your children and grandchildren hit the old “88” these freedoms may have vanished.

I hope you are still enjoying the blessings of liberty as we approach our Easter Season. Be sure to be in your church this Sunday. And, looking ahead, let’s all try to pack our churches come Easter Sunday.

Wayne Bullard, DPh cwaynebullard@gmail.com