What I Did for Food

S&W Model 624, Stainless .44 Special

A couple of them are shown twice here. Many are not shown at all. I just felt like illustrating to anyone who might care why I felt so sorry for myself when I lost my job and we moved to Boise and I sold all my guns to help keep us in groceries.

I think there was an old song called What I did for Love. I suppose we could all write our own versions of that one. But what I did for food actually hurt me and made me proud at the same time. I've been acquainted with some men who would not have done this. But how could they not? Nothing beats our obligation to do what we can to take care of our families. I suspect there are some who think I'm failing in that obligation right now. Shrug. They might be right. But on one occasion in my life, when it mattered, I did the right thing. It had taken me about thirty years to collect them all and I had sacrificed other things sometimes to get them. But I sold them off in ones and twos until they were all gone.

No, it's not that big a sacrifice. I didn't have to give up my freedom or get shot at or brave a cholera infested slum to get the food for us. Sheryl was doing more than her share, too. But these photos represent just a few of the things that I lost when I lost my job. I also lost a lot of self-respect and confidence. But you can't show those things in photographs.

Just so he knows I haven't sold his stuff, there are one or two of Joseph's things in these old photographs. They didn't go out with the rest. And Grandpa Hartsell's old 16 gauge side-by-side was never abandoned. But these pictures probably represent about one third of what I lost. Some will sympathize with that. Thank you. Others will say, "Why does a person need all those nasty old guns anyway?" I doubt I'll ever be able to communicate a satisfactory answer to that most unsatisfactory question. If the beauty, the grandeur, and the History represented by such things doesn't jump right out at you, there's probably little I could say to engender that kind of aesthetic sense in your heart.

But I haven't given up hope. I'll probably never have as many, but I have four good ones now. And I have hope that the number will grow at least a little by the time I leave them to younger folks to enjoy.

Ruger Mark II, .22 target pistol, 10" bull barrel.

Interarms Mk X Mauser, .30-06. Marlin 60, .22 LR. Ruger 10-22 (Joseph's)



1895 Marlin in .45-70 Gov't. Ruger All Weather .22 Mag. Thompson/Center Contender Carbine in .223 Rem.



Cheap old 20 gauge that I refinished.
1896 Swedish Mauser, mfg. 1915.
Oberndorf Mauser .22 target rifle. (sniff)

Italian clone of Colt Single-Action Army, .44 Special.

Norinco (Chinese) clone of 1936 Olympics Walther .22 Pistol.

Ruger Mk II (again)

S&W 624 (again)

Glock 23 in .40 S&W

Italian clone for CVA of Colt 1862 Pocket Police which was issued to Union military police during the Civil War.

Italian clone of 1853 Enfield (British armory) .58 caliber rifle-musket.

Our Own Members of "The Greatest Generation"

I've often been known to "beweep my outcast state and trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries," but in reality, the only thing we're low on is money. We have everything else in abundance. This should be a big Thanksgiving for that reason alone.

The greatest of all great blessings is family. The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ makes that very clear. And we have a great family. I love to read all your blog posts, not to mention emails. I have never had lots of friends, but I have had a few very close ones. But in terms of family, I've been blessed with both abundance and quality! There isn't a single one of them whom I don't love and admire. Every child and grandchild, every niece and nephew, every sibling and in-law, and even every outlaw! (That's a private joke between me and Mary.)

Let me dwell for a moment on the subject of my parents. I love and admire them greatly. They sacrificed a great deal to join the Church, but they've always seemed to count it a privilege. They are members of what Tom Brokaw called "The Greatest Generation." So are Len's folks, Lynne's folks, Sheryl's folks, Shayne's folks, and many other people in or close to the family with whom I've had the privilege to associate in my life.

Brokaw called them this because of what they endured, accomplished, and built. This was a generation raised by survivors of "The Great War," 1914-18 (1917-18 for Americans except those who volunteered early for the air forces of other nations.) They saw and lived through The Great Depression, an event which seems to be growing more real in our imaginations all the time. They fought, financed, and endured The Second World War, the largest human conflict in 6,000 years of recorded human history.

After the war they built a nation which led the world in defending the peace which had been so hard won. Preserving peace does not consist of merely refusing to fight. It often consists of being the only one who is willing to continue to struggle with the forces of evil in the world. And evil is a very real thing in this world, regardless of what some might say. I believe that John Marshall is quoted as saying, "Peace does not come through avoidance of conflict but through the ability to deal effectively with it." So those who laughed at Reagan's "Peacekeeper" missiles and Sam Colt's "Peacemaker" sidearm were not being honest in their accusation of irony.

Our parents' generation was the one that funded and worked The Marshall Plan for Europe and similarly huge projects for Japan. Cynics and skeptics may say we did it for selfish reasons. They may say that we did it to ensure that we had healthy trading partners in order to secure our own economy. They may be right about that. But I ask, "So what? What is wrong with that? It is still the only thing of its kind that has ever been seen. And its immediate effects were anything but selfish on the part of the United States."

Our parents' generation literally rebuilt major nations which had tried to destroy the world and had come pretty close to doing it. They imposed on them democratic forms of government which most of their children have come to appreciate. (That Samurai who tried to take over the Japanese government in the seventies was jeered and hooted at by the very soldiers he had hoped to enlist in his absurd cause. No one ever more justly committed sepuku.)

Theirs was the generation that "stayed the course" as Mr. Reagan asked us to do. They are the ones who literally outfought, outspent, outworked and outlived the huge and powerful Soviet Union. It's so easy for today's doubters to say that the USSR was never much of a threat anyway since it didn't succeed in rendering every other nation on earth a "worker paradise." But if you lived through it, you remember that their desire to dominate the world was very real. If you lived through it, you recall that we often discussed - even in grade school - the very real possibility of waking up some day as a big, smoking hole in the ground!

When you add to these accomplishments the fact that we were raised in the Restored Church, you come to the inescapable conclusion that we are a blessed generation, more so than any which has yet lived.

The oldest living members of our family are truly "The Greatest Generation." May we remember that on this Thanksgiving Day and strive every day of our lives to be worthy of them.