How does the expression go, something like, "Hell has no fury like a woman scorned."
Well, this post is -- and it might take me awhile, I'm so angry -- more like, "I really don't like having my mother or my mother's generation besmirched."
In this particular case, however, it wasn't perhaps so much besmirching as a complete misunderstanding and/or deliberate misrepresentation of the facts to further one's own interests ... i.e., in trying to make a political point.
I am so angry, in fact, that I am almost outraged!!
Let's take what I read, quote by quote.
... ... a World Class Pack Rat ... ... I had no idea that pack rats were now divided into classes. 'World class' -- my goodness. Impressive!
... ... Every closet, cellar shelf and attic corner was packed tightly with things 'saved against a rainy day'. ... ... kept everything from wrapping paper off of the Christmas gifts to scraps of old clothes, and she canned and stored like a squirrel coming up on the Ice Age. Now, I ask you, "How is it even conceivable that we could be coming up on an Ice Age in this hysterical era of "global warming", much less 50+ years ago, which is the time period to which the author refers.
... ... or more accurately, like a woman who'd come of age during the Great Depression. Now, in this quote, the author has it exACTly right! The woman referred to was a product of the Great Depression. In fact, she'd had to drop out of high school and go to work to help support the family when her father left home. She saved every little scrap because she had no guarantee that there would be any the next day. To belittle that generation with cute little phrases to try and illustrate one's point I find personally abhorrent.
... ... Psychologically, she was what she'd eaten (or rather, what she hadn't). What the devil is THAT supposed to mean?!?
Sorry. I'm angry. I have a really difficult time hearing or reading what I believe are somewhat distorted statements of those who are no longer around to speak for themselves without saying at least something in response!
I'll try to be more composed next post.
2 comments:
I'd be angry as well. All of my grandparents lived through the Great Depression. I remembered my grandma writing in very tiny writing on a piece of paper and then turning it sideways to write over top of what was already there. She would reuse yogurt cups and butter containers and save bits of string, etc. Some of my "relatives" would make fun of her. I was so ashamed of those relatives.....so very ashamed of them making fun of her. I can't even imagine what it would have been like to live with nothing, or at the most very little. These great people made due, they survived, and for what? To be made fun of. Such a sad thing.
So was the entire post a rant against your mother's generation? Seems an odd subject...
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