Thoughts...

Where have all the barns gone? It seems to me that there used to be many more of them dotting the countryside. Were they taken down? Did they fall down? Did they outlive their usefulness?

Sometimes I feel like a barn. Weathered wood. No longer appreciated for what I can still do…remembered only for what I did in my youth.

Oh well…..

It makes me wonder. Will old, weathered, sagging McDonald’s be dotting the countryside? Golden Arches no longer in vogue, or needed, as life has marched right past them? Will they be turned into ethnic restaurants, stripped of their “Mickey D” accoutrements?

Perhaps they will become soup kitchens to feed those who used to have the money to spend on McNuggets and now just want a hot cup of coffee and a slice of bread. Or a bowl of soup. Maybe a bowl of McChicken and McNoodles.

What else will go the way of the barn? Perhaps our whole society will be as weathered and sagging. Left to fall down and rot on the ground. Unnoticed, uncaring, unnecessary.

There was a time in this country when a “barn raising” was a community affair. All the men in the community set aside their own labors to help a neighbor raise a barn. Back then, a barn was a vital part of the everyday process of farming. Not conglomerate farming but, “feed your family” farming.

In a day, the men raised the barn and provided shelter for the farm animals. Meanwhile, the women folk fixed a meal to feed all of them: fried chicken, mashed potatoes, fresh vegetables, cakes and pies and homemade ice cream.

Imagine that happening now…….

But then, who needs a barn? Who has the time and the space to grow their own food? Or raise their own cows and pigs and chickens? How many chickens do you have to sell to make the monthly payments on a BMW? Or, how many eggs would it take for a Subaru payment?

Times have changed. And not necessarily for the better.

I remember hearing my father-in-law talking about the Great Depression. He was just a kid and he didn’t know that the country was falling apart. He lived on a ranch. They grew oranges, walnuts and plums. They also raised pigs and chickens for food for the family.

He remembers his oldest sister turning the frayed collar and cuffs on his school shirt, making it look new again, or faded and newer than it was, but he doesn’t remember ever being hungry.

Is it possible that America, the Land of Opportunity has become America, the Land of Entitlement? I remember when we scrimped and saved to purchase something that cost a lot of money. Today, I would just “charge” it. Is that progress?

I saw this old barn today. It is still standing, still protecting the things inside of it. The owners tell me a lot of people stop and ask if they can photograph this old barn.

Maybe I’m not the only one who misses “the good old days”……