artist Prairie Dance Club

With all the economic doom and gloom in the world today, I have been thinking a lot about how our present day society and government might respond if the type of hardships that came with the depression of 1929 were to happen again. At any given time during those years almost 30% of the work force was unemployed. Today those statistics might look different because of modern technology, but I wonder if, at our core, we could dig as deep as thousands of first generation Canadians did 80 years ago if we had to? Without a social safety net in Canada during the Depression it was it was the job of private charities, churches and individuals to meet the needs of thousands who were unemployed and suffering hardship especially throughout the Canadian prairies. One of these individuals was a visionary politician from Saskatchewan named Tommy Douglas who stood up for the working and middle class and eventually helped pen one of Canada's earliest hospitalization and medicare plans. In doing some research online you can find many stories of people in whom the Depression brought out the worst. Like the stockbrokers who committed suicide when they realized they no longer had anything of value beyond their souls or men who turned to organize crime to make ends meet. They were tough times, but there are thousands more stories of individuals in whom the Depression brought out the best. Everyday people sharing resources with total strangers; men who travelled thousands of miles to find work in order to provide for their families. Many of us have very personal ties to this hard stretch of North American history because of what our grandparents and great grandparents would have experienced first hand. One day last year I was visiting with my parents in the Okanagan and I began asking my father some questions about my own family's experience with the Great Depression. My great grandparents immigrated from Liverpool in the early 1920's to Saskatchewan. Like thousands of others, my great grandfather lost his job and could not find work after the Depression hit. Times were so tough that my Grandfather could not even afford to feed his two boys and had to send them to a local church to be fed on a daily basis until he was able to land a job as a janitor at a local school. As a father of two I cannot even comprehend not being able to feed my kids. In the back of my mind I think, "Well, I would just use my credit card if I didn't have any money." But what if there were no credit cards and the government's social assistance programs were no longer running? It really makes you think about the value of a dollar, doesn't it? Would people today still respond as selflessly as so many during the Depression; would I respond as selflessly? One thing is certain. No matter how hard things get, I think love and compassion will be the only currency that will matter in the end - they get beaten down time and again but their resiliency is unnatural. They are full of surprises and can change destinies in an instant. Sounds idealistic and a little cliche I know, but it doesn't make it any less untrue. Jason This topic was the inspiration behind our song "Until They Put Me In the Ground". You can download it for free here: www.prairiedanceclub.bandcamp.com