THE SUMMER OF 1918
In the summer of 1918 the United States was at war; troops were fighting in France, families were disrupted and influenza was taking a hefty toll on the population here and abroad. Despite the hardships of the times the nation came together for a national purpose. Pride arose within the hearts of those who served and those who supported them. The many nationalities of our country came together as one and fought for a common purpose for they were all Americans.
During that summer a baby was born unwanted in St. Louis, Missouri. His father had already departed and his mother wasn’t ready to be inconvenienced with a child. He was to be disposed of at birth but when his grandfather heard of such a proposition he hopped a freight and traveled to St. Louis from Calloway County. He retrieved the baby in a wicker basket and took him back to the county hitching rides along the way. The grandfather knew it would be difficult to provide for the infant as he already had twelve children of his own and the baby would be just one more mouth to feed. His family was the poor of America living in the woods remote from the nearest town in central Missouri. The family grew vegetables from a small plot and shot squirrel and rabbit for their meat. Transportation was primarily by foot although occasionally they would acquire a lift on a horse and buggy.
As the baby grew into a boy and then adolescence he lived a life of low expectation for the future and hard work in the present. The hard work was a necessity as it was the work of survival. He and the extended family were America’s poor backwoods people discarded and forgotten by the affluent but they were numerous in quantity as they resided throughout this country. The only possessions the family had was the weather worn house in which they lived and the shotguns over the mantle with which they captured their meals. But even the house was at risk as the grandfather bought a car using the house as collateral and when he couldn’t make the payments he lost the house and the only thing remaining were the shotguns.
They were uneducated. Of all the thirteen children only one made it through high school. As they made it to maturity the children would head off to find their place in the world. Some of the boys went into farming, some went to work on the railroad and one became a musician. The baby of the lot joined the Coast Guard. Uneducated, unskilled and without a nickel to his name he found a military organization that gave him focus and purpose. The hard work and self-reliance learned in the woods served him well in the Coast Guard. He served in the late thirties and through the duration of World War II. During the war he married and after the celebration of victory he returned to civilian life searching for a way to support his family finally becoming a mechanic. He raised two boys and a daughter while his wife stayed at home caring for the children. He was never wealthy but he managed and he never took a dime form anyone. He believed that a man should provide for himself and his family.
I think of that man often. I recall his quiet pride in being a man. And then I look around at an element of our society today and wonder how did we as a nation sink so far from producing men of faith, courage and self-reliance to producing dependent people unable to provide for themselves, always seeking a handout then expecting more. It doesn’t take long for me to realize that our Government is the reason for the cultural atrophy. It is our Government who rewards people for not working. Who provides for their every need and tells them that they are entitled because those who are successful are evil in some way. Yes when we turned our lives over to the Government we gave up the pride of working for what is ours and accepted the Government handout as an entitlement—one which is owed to us simply because.
No, my Dad would not have done well in this environment. His calloused hands, half chewed cigars, colorful speech and hardnosed individualism would not have a place in today’s America. It’s too bad for we need more men like him. He was a Democrat of the FDR variety but he would have been appalled at where his party has taken his country.
Marvin Brigman
President
In the summer of 1918 the United States was at war; troops were fighting in France, families were disrupted and influenza was taking a hefty toll on the population here and abroad. Despite the hardships of the times the nation came together for a national purpose. Pride arose within the hearts of those who served and those who supported them. The many nationalities of our country came together as one and fought for a common purpose for they were all Americans.
During that summer a baby was born unwanted in St. Louis, Missouri. His father had already departed and his mother wasn’t ready to be inconvenienced with a child. He was to be disposed of at birth but when his grandfather heard of such a proposition he hopped a freight and traveled to St. Louis from Calloway County. He retrieved the baby in a wicker basket and took him back to the county hitching rides along the way. The grandfather knew it would be difficult to provide for the infant as he already had twelve children of his own and the baby would be just one more mouth to feed. His family was the poor of America living in the woods remote from the nearest town in central Missouri. The family grew vegetables from a small plot and shot squirrel and rabbit for their meat. Transportation was primarily by foot although occasionally they would acquire a lift on a horse and buggy.
As the baby grew into a boy and then adolescence he lived a life of low expectation for the future and hard work in the present. The hard work was a necessity as it was the work of survival. He and the extended family were America’s poor backwoods people discarded and forgotten by the affluent but they were numerous in quantity as they resided throughout this country. The only possessions the family had was the weather worn house in which they lived and the shotguns over the mantle with which they captured their meals. But even the house was at risk as the grandfather bought a car using the house as collateral and when he couldn’t make the payments he lost the house and the only thing remaining were the shotguns.
They were uneducated. Of all the thirteen children only one made it through high school. As they made it to maturity the children would head off to find their place in the world. Some of the boys went into farming, some went to work on the railroad and one became a musician. The baby of the lot joined the Coast Guard. Uneducated, unskilled and without a nickel to his name he found a military organization that gave him focus and purpose. The hard work and self-reliance learned in the woods served him well in the Coast Guard. He served in the late thirties and through the duration of World War II. During the war he married and after the celebration of victory he returned to civilian life searching for a way to support his family finally becoming a mechanic. He raised two boys and a daughter while his wife stayed at home caring for the children. He was never wealthy but he managed and he never took a dime form anyone. He believed that a man should provide for himself and his family.
I think of that man often. I recall his quiet pride in being a man. And then I look around at an element of our society today and wonder how did we as a nation sink so far from producing men of faith, courage and self-reliance to producing dependent people unable to provide for themselves, always seeking a handout then expecting more. It doesn’t take long for me to realize that our Government is the reason for the cultural atrophy. It is our Government who rewards people for not working. Who provides for their every need and tells them that they are entitled because those who are successful are evil in some way. Yes when we turned our lives over to the Government we gave up the pride of working for what is ours and accepted the Government handout as an entitlement—one which is owed to us simply because.
No, my Dad would not have done well in this environment. His calloused hands, half chewed cigars, colorful speech and hardnosed individualism would not have a place in today’s America. It’s too bad for we need more men like him. He was a Democrat of the FDR variety but he would have been appalled at where his party has taken his country.
Marvin Brigman
President
The Okaloosa County Republican Club
PO Box 5084
Fort Walton Beach, FL 32549
850.609.3341
info@OkaloosaRepublicanClub.org
PO Box 5084
Fort Walton Beach, FL 32549
850.609.3341
info@OkaloosaRepublicanClub.org