Jane Yoder & Peggy Terry

Jane Yoder:
Jane lived her childhood during the depression where her family was struggling to be warm in the winter. She thought it was a luxury to own a pair of boots. When I read this passage, I felt so grateful for everything that I have. At this time, we can relate to Jane and her family because of the economic crisis happening right now. Obviously the conditions right now are not as bad as the ones Jane had to live through, but now people have to cut back on the items that are not essential for living. Jane was shocked when people who were rich had 30 shirts and she only owned 3. She did not understand how there was such a difference between the upper class and the lower class. During her childhood, she stayed hungry some nights because she knew that her dad was not able to afford to bring home food for the night. Her father worked, but he did not have a respectable job because he was poor and poor people were not looked up to in the society at that time. Jane felt like she was living in one world and the rich were completely separate from them. That idea can relate to today because many people today think that the majority of the people who have a decent income and then there are the people who are billionaires. This is the same idea having the two worlds. Tom Yoder, Jane’s son was not able to comprehend how horrible the depression was and how his mother had to live through that time. He stated, “I’ve never gone to bed hungry—I wish I had.” This quote explains that he respects his mother for living through a tough period of time. It also explains that he is very fortunate to live in a home and have food and he will never have the horrible experience to be poor, but he wished that he had the experience to understand how others felt at that time. He is very grateful for everything that he has.

Peggy Terry:
The second story is about Peggy Terry who lived in Oklahoma City where there were thousands of people who were unemployed. There were as many white people who were unemployed as blacks. She even knew someone who lived in a whole in the ground with seven kids because they did not have money to own a house or build a shack. Peggy remembered many times when sand storms hit her town and everyone went into their house until after the storm. Then, they would have to clean up their entire house because sand would come through the cracks. She lived in a close neighborhood where if one family had food for the night, they would share it with people who did not have food.  She mentioned that she was very confused why she could only see poverty and starving people while the government seemed to be wealthy and did not try to distribute that money to the people who were starving. When she was a kid, the poor did not blame themselves for being poor, they blamed the government, but Peggy thought, “Our system doesn’t run by just one man and it doesn’t fall by just one man either.” She is explaining that the people who are poor should not just blame the government because they cannot be the only ones to blame for a hug problem. Today, Peggy thinks that people feel ashamed if they do not have everything because there much higher standards than when she was a kid. I can relate to that because today living in the north shore, people are very fortunate and have money to get expensive clothes and designer products. When people do not have all of those expensive things, they feel like an outcast.