"He's nothing but a hard-headed old fool. He's stubborn and won't listen to me." "She's too old, and set in her ways." How often have you heard those lines attributed to our senior citizens?Well, often enough, I expect. And in many ways these elderly folks do sometimes get in the way of progress and we're on such a fast track with technology spilling out of our ears at such a rate that we can't even grab all of it as it flies by. But what if these pioneers of ours hadn't been stubborn or persistent? What if they had been like us, expecting someone else with a specialized talent to get us out of our problems?We're talking about people who were probably young during the Great Depression, wondering about what was going to come at them next. They weren't thinking about new technology or toys; they were wondering about the next meal. If they hadn't been stubborn and determined, they simply would not have made it. They had to buck up their resolve and get on with the task of finding some bread to put on the table, any legal way they could. That took more than initiative at times. It required persistence, not always money. If they'd hadn't been stubborn, we wouldn't have our city. It just wouldn't have been here. If those pioneers had decided to give up the fight against grasshoppers, dust, bad banking systems and diseases, this part of Saskatchewan would have quickly eased back into being a scruffy, outback-like dessert with weeds being the main vegetation. Somehow these early second-generation pioneers made it work. They were children and grandchildren of the early pioneers, the ones who scratched the soil around here for the first time with the intention of planting crops and getting things to grow in unnatural surroundings. As one Depression-era survivor explained to me once, "I didn't know I was poor, or if I did, I guess it didn't matter because I had work to do." He slugged his way through it and Saskatchewan emerged from the scruffiness and became a national incubator for future leaders, because the sons and daughters who came from the sons and daughters of the early pioneers knew how to work and they knew how to be stubborn and persistent and determined leaders. They had to be. And I'm not exaggerating when I say they had to be. If they weren't, they died. It was that simple, folks. So when disaster struck their neighbours, they helped them out, because so often it was a do-or-die situation. And they graciously accepted assistance when they were downed by some misfortune because that was the only way they were going to get through it. Every Saskatchewan family has their story of remarkable endurance during the Depression, or the hard times that preceded that era, or even the tough times after and during the Second World War and beyond. Nothing was assured. Our family's storylines included tales of two sisters, working together, dining every evening on dry crackers and porridge and trying to find clothing good enough to wear to work the next day while being assured by their boss that there would be no raise in their salary for years and if they didn't accept it, there were plenty of young women looking for work who would be eager to take their place. So they worked, fainted from hunger, got back up and worked some more. A grandfather who packed up what goods he had left and went on the road, looking for sales. He would run out of gas often. He lost his only means of transportation, but not giving up ever. Early retail was no picnic either.Some can recall grand days in communities when water and sewer lines were hooked up, or natural gas was introduced into the towns circa 1950s. Yes, it wasn't that long ago. Think about it. No flushing, no water flow from taps. There was wood or coal to feed into hoppers to heat the home, no gas lines. Before that though, there was no home. If you wanted one of those, you built it yourself with what was lying around or growing. Think about it. The next time you're caught behind a senior in the checkout lane and you get cranky because your boyfriend just Twittered you telling you that you're late for the beer bash and video party and don't forget the ice!Take one for the stubborn, hard-headed senior and smile. You're only here because they got here first and took one for you.
