The Greatest Generation

Tom Brokaw dubbed those of my parents age "The Greatest Generation." I wish to reaffirm that sentiment from a different viewpoint and in regard to another, and less obvious, but possibly greater triumph.

My father, still going strong, was born in 1923. My late mother, 1927. By the time they were teenagers their families were dealing with surviving the Great Depression. Economic turmoil that makes our own pale in comparison. (25% unemployment vs. 11% and so many of their banks failed while ours were rescued). Their parents struggled to find income for meals rather than i-Pads.

Adulthood found them fighting Nazi, Fascist, and Japanese delusions of world rule versus our war on terrorists. Their war involved over 80% of the 2.3 billion world population. About 200 million resided in the countries trying to rule the rest. The total terrorists on earth are estimated to number less than 50,000, or about 0.000071%.
They persevered, overcame the threat, and then rebuilt the world.

And did they ever rebuild the world. Finally, after all the strife, struggles, and suffering life was good.

Until their children started to reach the age when they ventured out to save the world. All of a sudden, starting in earnest around 1967, everything they had made of the world was wrong! Almost every night the had to debate with their own children, the heirs to their world, the apples of their eyes, the people they were most devoted to, how the Greatest Generation had screwed things up. I lived then. I witnessed and participated in those debates with the mothers and fathers who collectively taught us the very precepts we were using to condemn the world they gave us.

And they rose to the occasion. The fight touched on every level of our existence - soul, heart, mind, and body. Each side adamant, sincere, and passionate. Yet as the debate went on for several years a lot of crew cuts sported sideburns. Ties got wider. Shirts went from white to blue to red to paisley. Ed Sullivan and Jackie Gleason gave way to Laugh-in and The Smothers Brothers. The war was stopped. The compromise had been reached. The Greatest Generation listened and learned and grew from the experience. We are a better world, both globally and locally, for their contribution to our lives.

Please, take three minutes, right now, instead of anything else you might do, call mom or dad (even if they are grandma or grandpa) if you're lucky to still have them around. If not, find a picture, or note, or some other momento, or just google images from V-E Day/V-J day in 1945, and see them for what they truly are: The Greatest Generation, and then pray for the same strength because we have a legacy of our own to leave.