Emotions from The Great Depression

                   (A piece which secured my position in the National English Honors Society.)

“Why?” the man spoke, his voice squeaky and cracking with confused emotion. He dropped his head down, cupping dirty hands over tired eyes. The fingernails were long, uncut and stained black from hard work. The palms were calloused. Bumps rising from the fingers base like mountains on a prairie of white cotton. As the man pulled his hands downward, his eyes were revealed, bloodshot and wet with the salt water of mourning. The pupils were blue however, deeply contrasting the bright red which so surrounded. A spot of purity in a sea of sadness. As his hands drug down, the skin was pulled, cracking and folding from years of beating sun on a face creased with the sober expression of thoughtlessness. The bottom lip curled downward, revealing rotted gums, still holding yellowed teeth, as a snake clenches its prey. His eyebrows furrowed as the man squinted to find emotion in his partners face. None could be discovered. His brow relaxed, eyes giving up on a search for what could not be found. Reaching up, the man ran his fingers through his hair, slicking it back with the sweat and oils of an unkempt laborer. A laborer who could not afford the luxuries of soap and tooth powder. A laborer who spent his hard earned dollar on bread, daily. By nightfall the bread would be gone, consumed, leaving no evidence of work that day but the worn man himself. At dawn, the man was up again, commuting to work for yet another dollar, yet another loaf of bread, yet another sleepless night.

This methodical routine has been man’s way of gathering hope.

Money equals opportunity.

Money equals satisfaction.

Money equals comfort.

Money equals happiness.

Money equals need. The need for more.

The need for more opportunity.

The need for more satisfaction.

The need for more comfort.

The need for more happiness.

In this we find, hope cannot always be found. Hope must be brought back to us. Hope must be returned if we are greedy enough to lose it.