The Great Depression: A Short Story

Don’t you ever wonder why change happens so abruptly? Why its

unpredictability is loved by some and despised by others? I often wonder too, and in

times like these, it happens quite a lot. My family, as many would say, is depressed.

I guess that’s why they call it the Great Depression, the era we live in. Because of

the lack of happiness and blithe, we are forced into a life of constant stress and

poverty. My father tells me that it had all started when the stock market crashed and

since then, everything changed. It became an arduous task to find a job that would

offer a decent pay. But, then again, any pay is decent nowadays. The meager

income my father earns, oftentimes none at all, is all we have to support ourselves.

He isn’t often

From what I gathered, they were

named in honor of President Herbert Hoover, who, according to them, was to blame

for the failing economy and miserable living conditions. My family and I are one of

the few who aren’t, and my mother often reprimands us about how we take for

granted the fact that we aren’t among those who are less fortunate and that we

Sarah Aguiar 822 October 2016

should cherish our “gift”. I think that it is an innate ability people have to assume

what fortune they have will be with them regardless. I feel that even the inhabitants

of the so called “Hoovervilles” take for granted what little they have and forget that

there are probably some who are even less fortuitous then they are.

Sometimes, I imagine a world that is free of the countless woes wrought upon

the people of today. Where no one is troubled by the need of supporting their family

or if you might not have house to lodge in at the end of the day. Nevertheless, this is

simply a fantasy one could only hope for. It is what everyone hopes for at times like

these. And, I desperately hope that, in the near future, this dream will become a