Christmas past and present

In 1931, I was 7 years old; 80 years later, in 2011, I had reached the ripe old age of 87. Comparing the two years at Christmas time was like night and day.

In 1931, living on North Jackson Street on Youngstown’s East Side, I could count the cars that went down our street in one day on one hand. In 2011, I could not find a parking place at a big Giant Eagle store on Mahoning Avenue, and the same thing happened at the Southern Park Mall. What recession?

At Giant Eagle, I was in line at a checkout counter, behind a nice young lady with the biggest load of groceries I had ever seen. She offered to let me go ahead of her, since I only had a few things. I thanked her and said, “I am curious to see how much your load cost.” So I stayed behind her. The bill was $209. Wow!

Long lines

At the Southern Park Mall, the lines at the checkouts were so long that I fell asleep in line standing up. Once again where is the recession?

Topping it all off, I waited five minutes behind a person at an outside lottery booth, in my car. I asked the clerk, “Why the delay?” She said the person had just spent $120 on the lottery. I remember my parents spending one penny on the bug (lottery) during the Great Depression. Of course, there were “haves” and “have nots” during both eras. My family of four were on the “have nots” end of the stick, so Santa passed us up. My parents felt there was a stigma to go on relief, which I feel was a mistake on their part.

No citizens of the United States should starve or be without a roof over their head. There is plenty to go around and “charity begins at home,” not overseas.

Michael J. Lacivita is a Youngstown retiree and member of the Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame and Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame.