34     OKIES 

KEY CONCEPTS:  destitution, materialism, assumptions, fortitude, pride, resolve, begging, worry, material trouble, unconditional love within hardship.            

MESSAGE:  Aw, shucks. Get ready for a rough patch.  The Okies card portends material trouble, but it also highlights the sweeter side of tribulations: how hard times soften when shared with those we love.  Hot sun clobbers the parched ground while a black blizzard blows your way.  Insult jumped on top of injury when the old truck surrendered its ghost along the shoulder.  The kids are glum and wide-eyed, and you haven’t caught a break since you said goodbye to the bone-dry farm.  The missus hush-a-byes the baby but his cries morph into an earworm; it’s the soundtrack to everyone’s worries.  When this dust-bowl-era family left for California on the “Mother Road” described by John Steinbeck in “The Grapes of Wrath,” even Ma voted “Boom or Bust.”  But to Pa’s chagrin, “Bust” just keeps on busting as miles creep by.  Desperation fine-tunes wrenching skills you never knew you had; begging looks better by the moment as your pride sinks lower than wheel-ruts. Time to straighten your spine and take notice, friend: everyone on this thoroughfare suffers with you.  Look at the hordes camped out in Hooverville, sleeping under California blankets.  Could they be in worse straits?  Heck, you still read your newspapers rather than snoring under them, and two bags of flapjack flour boldly stand between you and starvation.

When fortunes decline, once-solid workmen crash from patriarchs to pariahs.  Shake it off, dear traveler.  If you’re prone to griping, shut your big bazoo.  Bear bad times quietly; attitude’s contagious.  Okie pride wears like a fresh set of patched overalls; when strangers shun you for adversity, that’s their false image.  Your true value is reflected in Unconditional Love.  It’s a tonic being cherished when we’re at our worst.  Even when you’ve hit rock bottom, your youngsters still look up at you.  Return the favor.  Conduct yourself with devoted dignity in the worst of times or the best.  Concord lightens burden; hardship joins us against common foes. Can you find comfort in Spirit today? It’s always shining, even when dust clouds block your view.

Anything that didn’t kill you sent you further down the freeway.  Even if you lost your shirt…you could find it again when you reach Easy Street.  Survival skills gleaned from a bad patch of road are riches of the future.  Why not savor all your life experiences? Savoring sweetness is easy, but can you learn to savor bitterness, or even the absence of flavor?  Cast your worries on the dust devils; watch them build your character as they whirl on by.  Do they serve a useful purpose on this high-gear road?  Freely use whatever bounty comes your way today; don’t sweat it if you need to chuck a few relics.  If you’ve got thumbs, you can always hitch…but you can’t drag a single, clunky possession to your final destination.

RELATED SITES:  ROBERT’S GRILL FRIED ONION BURGERS, A DUSTBOWL FAVE IN EL RENO, OKLAHOMA; OKLAHOMA ROUTE 66 MUSEUM, CLINTON, OK; “EPICENTER OF THE DUST BOWL,” HOOKER, OK; BECKHAM COUNTY COURTHOUSE, FEATURED IN “THE GRAPES OF WRATH,” SAYRE, OK; OLD TRAILS BRIDGE THAT CARRIED OKIES INTO CALIFORNIA, TOPROCK, AZ.