I'm sorry, was this directed at me? I don't think I said they accepted the hardship, however, they were a hard people and the great depression was like a refining fire, it made them stronger.
I disagree with the statement above, many people who live in poverty especially in this country have no idea how good they have it. There is a reason why so many impoverished people in this country are morbidly obese. No other country in the world has obese poor people.
The demand for money is an attitude created by media who constantly bombards us with the idea to be happy we need to drive this car or live in that house. we are the most wasteful people in the world. We move on average every 5 years, we buy a new car on average every 3 years. You can't get ahead when you live like that. Then we cry when there is a downturn in the economy, what are we going to do. How about save you money, quit moving and keep your perfectly good car. BTW, that is not me, that is 100% Dave Ramsey.
Me being in the Real Estate industry, I constantly hear these words, "this is our starter house". What they should be saying is this is the home we are going to die in. The whole reason my parents have the money they have is because they paid off their house in 15 years and then invested their money for the next 25 years, they pulled a little here and there for repairs, but for the most part they just wanted a little nest egg to help with their retirement, now they have an annual retirement of about 106K a year. What do they do with it? Absolutely nothing, they have created college funds for my kids, and my dad is always looking for new ways to invest it.