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Reflections of The Past — Remembering my Ancestors of WWI & WWII
During the past couple of days, I started to reflect on what my ancestors felt when both World War I and World War II broke out. I am feeling mixed emotions with a bit of fear of the unknown.
The war is a time filled with all kinds of emotions and conflicts running through our minds. How did they cope and remember the stories of their own struggles and triumphs, that got them through both world wars and the Great Depression?
However, the difference between them and us is the way they received the news to stay on top of what was happening around the world. Back then they relied on the newspapers to learn what was going on, and later they relied on the radio and the newspapers. Today, we have much information coming at us, from all sides ranging from newspapers, television, radio, and social media.
We can now watch the war unfold in real-time and hear the horror stories of the victims of war as it happens. We can even hear the warning sirens of the war even though we are continents apart. How did they handle the rising inflation, was it by complaining, or did they learn how to deal with the situation and become stronger for their adversity?
In a story that was written by my great aunt, about my Great Grandmother, you can really see and feel the family struggles. You can gather strength and courage from it. As you can see from the photos of the story below, click to enlarge.
It feels like we are moving backward to a time of what many think is a simpler time, but in reality, it would never work because of all the technology and advances to our society and the world today. One thing that I have learned in my life is that you can’t go backward, simply because of all the changes. As society progresses and changes, we must learn to adjust.
It is through times of trouble and turmoil that we learn to grow and gather the strength and courage to move forward. We learn from the past and grow stronger from the lessons it has taught us. A favorite quote of mine is from John F. Kennedy, “You can’t know where you’re going until you know where you have been.”
