During the recession of 1981-82, I was the editor of the Shakopee Valley News, a weekly newspaper just outside the Twin Cities. I wrote many stories about the local jobs that were lost and the businesses that closed. I thought I had done a great job of documenting and opining about the horrible conditions.
One day an elderly woman came into our office to set me straight. Here is what she told me, as best as I can recall:
“When I was a young girl, my mother and I went into Shakopee to do some shopping. Out front of the drug store was a man and a wheelbarrow. He was wearing dirty and tattered overalls that badly needed mending. His hat was rumpled and soaked with sweat.
In the wheelbarrow was a pile of dirty clothes, a wooden carpenters tool box….a little girl who looked to be about three years old.
“I could tell my Momma was upset about something as we approached him. She wanted to see if they were hungry, but fist started with some small talk about the weather. Then she asked him where he was headed. She thought he was moving things to a nearby truck. I’ll never forget her face when he replied to her. ‘Well, I heard there was work in North Dakota.’
“He was walking. With his daughter. All his possessions. To find work he heard MIGHT be available. In North Dakota.
“I came to your office today to tell you that we’ve been through worse. So don’t go making things seem worse than they are. Just tell it like it really is.”
