The Greatest Generation

Today marks the 70th anniversary of D-day.

My heart is tender as I think of the number of lives lost on that day alone, let alone the entire duration of the war.  I am grateful for the greatest generation willingness to fight, to die and to bring down the oppressors of their day. Every person living in a free country in this world should be thankful for the allied troops and their sacrifices made 70 years ago.

The greatest generation (those who grew up during the depression and then went on to fight in WWII) were called such because they were the greatest generation! They worked hard, they tried to do the right things, they cared about their country and about having a family.

Tom Brokaw, who wrote the book and also termed the phrase "The Greatest Generation," explains how he came up with it,
"That came out of a discussion that I had with Tim Russert on the 50th anniversary of D-Day, on "Meet the Press." He said to me, `What do you think of the generation?' Quite spontaneously, I said, `I think it's the greatest generation any society ever produced.' Came out of the Depression with all that economic deprivation, went beyond their own shores to help save the world from fascism, came back, rebuilt their enemies, built the country that we have today, married in record numbers, went to college in record numbers, kept their values, never whined, never whimpered."

One thing keeps running through my mind. Will our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren look back on us with reverence, respect and admiration? Will they look at what we "fight" for and say that it was a good cause?  I mean really, take a good, close look at society. Contrast what you see to the young people of the greatest generation.

Todays counterparts to the greatest generation don't selflessly give for the cause of freedom, the good of society and the world. Many modern young men can hardly be called men, hence the term "man-child." They don't fight for anything. They delay marriage for as long as possible. Even when they get their girlfriends pregnant they still don't step up to the plate to marry her. Why should they in a society that tells them marriage is for ones own pleasure and happiness? Once the do, or if they do, marry they don't want the burden of children to care for, that would take away from them. They shrink at the idea of hard work, physical labor, and responsibility. They become less and less masculine. They care more about their Macklemore haircuts, fantasy football team, video games and their dogs than anything else. We consider men a success if they don't have a criminal history. We literally have no expectations for our young people, young men especially.

As D. Todd Christofferson put it:

"Some act as if a man’s highest goal should be his own pleasure. Permissive social mores have “let men off the hook” as it were, so that many think it acceptable to father children out of wedlock and to cohabit rather than marry. ¹ Dodging commitments is considered smart, but sacrificing for the good of others, naive. For some, a life of work and achievement is optional. A psychologist studying the growing phenomenon of what he calls “young men stuck in neutral” describes this scenario:

“Justin goes off to college for a year or two, wastes thousands of dollars of his parents’ money, then gets bored and comes home to take up residence in his old room, the same bedroom where he lived when he was in high school. Now he’s working 16 hours a week at Kinko’s or part time at Starbucks.

“His parents are pulling their hair out. ‘Justin, you’re 26 years old. You’re not in school. You don’t have a career. You don’t even have a girlfriend. What’s the plan? When are you going to get a life?’

“‘What’s the problem?’ Justin asks. ‘I haven’t gotten arrested for anything, I haven’t asked you guys for money. Why can’t you just chill?’” ²

How’s that for ambition?"

Its embarrassing.

With all this on my mind, I begin to wonder, what does our generation even fight for? $15 an hour minimum wage? The abolition of the word "bossy"? The right to pursue their own dreams and interests, because isn't that what life is all about? These things are weak, and completely insignificant compared to what the greatest generation fought for.

I think we all need to take a look at ourselves and decide if the principles, laws, and movements that we promote or fight for are in the same category as what the greatest generation fought for. If not, we might ask ourselves, will my children remember me for this, will they admire me for my efforts or will it all be forgotten?

Next, as parents, we have to ask ourselves what can we do to help our children become more like the greatest generation?
Its quite simple really. Is it countercultural? Yes. Is it old school? Yes. But I think its time we stop caring what our generation and society tell us. I say we raise our kids today the way the greatest generation was raised. That means you  teach them to work, teach them responsibility, hold them accountable; are these things easy? No, you have to be consistent and persistent and its tiring but its the only way. It means you don't give them everything they want. Deprivation makes one more grateful for what they have. This is vital ingredient.

Most importantly, we must, MUST teach them that their duty to God, his church, their family, their country, their fellowman overrule their own comfort and desires every. single. time. Duty is a hard thing. Even the word sounds hard. But duty is what brings a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment, it brings self worth and it gives meaning to life.

A poem by Rabindranath Tagore:

I slept and dreamt that life was joy.

I awoke and saw that life was duty.

I acted, and behold—

Duty was joy.

I hope that one day my posterity will look back at me and mistake me for one of the greatest generation, because they really were one of a kind and they really were that great.