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Without frugality none can be rich, and with it very few would be poor. -Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), English author, well know for his Dictionary of the English Language, published in 1755.
This week I watched the story of a Wisconsin family severely effected by the closing of the local General Motors plant. The father had lost his job at the plant, and with not many other great opportunities in clear view, the family was reduced financially to surviving on the $36,000 salary of the wife, employed by the Girl Scouts. Talk about your All-American “apple pie” story!
The angle of the expose’ was that of the family’s three boys and how the parents might not to be able to afford putting the boys in the local baseball league. Although the cost of $1,500 for the year for all three to participate now represented a large portion of the family’s income, they remained resolute in their desire to make it happen.
The father expressed that, although he was a formerly skilled factory employee, he was not beyond rolling up his sleeves and doing whatever it would take to survive. The mother’s determination seemed even greater as she expressed that she would simply “find a way”. The solution included no longer going to restaurants to eat and hand-me-down clothes for the boys would become the staple; oh, and of course no ”travel team” baseball anymore!
The story’s seemingly happy ending was that the boys did indeed get to play baseball, yet there was a much greater story evolving that we’re seeing more often during this recessionary period of 2009. It’s almost like witnessing the silent majority starting an even more quiet revolution!
