Groundsite Image Gallery
During the Hard Times
Artist: Jost, Lora
Date: 1999
Medium: mixed-media with dirt and embroidery
Height: 0.000"
Width: 0.000"
Keywords: survival
The following quote is about providing support to other farmers during the “hard times,” the farm crisis of the 1980s. —Lora Quote (within artwork) by Jake Geiger, Farmer, Robinson, KS 11/28/99: “I was friends with everybody. I didn’t turn anybody away. I never turned anybody away that wanted support. And I went out of my way—reached out of my way to help a lot of people. I did a lot of things. I mean I knew what it was like to be in trouble. And I can tell by looking at people if they were—if they were—if things were really rough for them. And I’d go out, I’d reach out to help them when I could... I can’t tell you. You go to them—if they’re really down you put your hand on their shoulder. You give them a hug. You look them in their eye—it’s a physical thing that you have to experience. You can tell, you know, by the look on his face if he’s beat. And you can tell—you get so you can tell by the look on his face, you know, how close he’s getting to blowing his head off. And you’ve got to figure out that whenever he gets that close, well you better go do something if you can. Now I say this to you. It’s not simple. It’s not simple. But you get so that you can judge a lot of things and people. And you have to try – to me the essence of Christianity is humility and charity. And you have to try to be charitable to people. You have to try to be kind to people. So anyway, all kinds of things happened. All kinds of things happened.” —Jake Geiger