This afternoon I was thinking about the craziness going on in our grocery stores right now when I remembered the book of World War II rationing coupons my sister and I found in some of my Mother’s papers when we were cleaning out her house. I’m sure my Mother had found this memento in my grandmother’s house and brought it home with her. My grandmother probably had the unused coupons leftover and kept it as a reminder of the hardships of the war years.
If you’re part of my generation then you, like me, grew up hearing stories from family members about doing without during World War II. Times were hard. What the Great Depression started WWII finished up for most people. Supplies were scarce and people did without; it’s just the way it was.
In today’s world we don’t know what it means to do without. We are used to walking into stores and having a diverse amount of merchandise from which to choose. We are impatient when we grocery shop if the shelves aren’t fully stocked (in normal times). I have to think that the hoarders that are depleting the shelves right now have never had to do without and are terrified that they might have to do so.
Could they (or any of us) survive if we limited choices and then could only buy an item if we had the coupon for it?
Small Simple Things of Life 
I thought about that as I went to 3 stores yesterday on my routine pickups and found so many empty shelves. Only one had a sign on the door indicating a limit of 3 items of toilet tissue, hand sanitizer, and cleaning supplies, and yet the shelves were already empty there, too. So because a few folks want 100 packages of toilet tissue, the rest of us cannot get one package. It brings to mind the story of a family member when they went to clean out their parents’ house after their death found hundreds of cases of canned goods stacked up that had long since ruined because they were never used–waiting for a catastrophe that never came.
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Crazy, isn’t it? I remember during the months leading up to Y2K, people were losing their minds and spending so much money preparing for something that never happened.
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Oh, yes, remember it well!
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Hi Beth – this is Peggy – had to make another blog – my last blog (aquietandpeaceablelife) went down with my last computer. – could not salvage it or make it function no matter what. So I have started another blog peggyscountrylife.wordpress.com. Just click on my gravatar picture and you will find my website listed on my gravatar page. This is an interesting post. I remember my parents and their rationing cards. People today do not know how to live with less – they are so use to having everything they want. I am not a hoarder and I do not condone those that are. Nice to catch up with you again – have missed my blogging friends for the last 5 or 6 weeks.
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Thank you for letting me know – I look forward to resuming reading your posts! Hope you are staying well!
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It’s good to remember what it was like during WWII. I also have some old ration coupons that once belonged to a relative.
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