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The Shallowest Generation

My father is still among the living, part of the 'Greatest Generation'. He was part of the US assault forces, flying gliders filled with troops and equipment behind enemy lines ... on four occasions. That would be invasion of Normandy, the invasion of Southern France, the invasion of Holland and the invasion of Germany (over the Rhine).

He live through all of that, even after being forced down in Normandy, almost being captured by Germans on several occasions, an almost being killed by US forces taking the town of Valognes in France.

He is too self-effacing and humble to claim any credit for anything. He merely views his participation in all of that as a required duty, unworthy of earning any special recognition.

He is right.

In fact, my father would be the first to accept blame and responsibility for not leaning the lessons of the 'Great War', and through blindness, selfishness and pure stupidity of an insular US, his generation holds accountability for the horrors of World War II.

Then, the 'Greatest Generation' stood by as clear, unmistakable threats grew on a global dimension. The 'America First' crowd insisted that the US keep out of 'foreign wars' not of our making. Japan invaded Manchuria, then China, then Burma, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, New Guinea, an of course, Singapore. The Germans meanwhile marched into Bohemia, Austria, Poland, The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, France, etc.

So, the 'Greatest Generation' and their fathers found themselves in a real mess.

What's my point?

You can cherry pick any time frame in history you want to fit a nice, neat argument that fits your narrative here. It is like all things in life; full of half-truths, lacking perspective but still useful.

The current generation has not waged a global war of mass death upon one another. How much GDP does that count for?

The current generation is also responsible for helping to spread democracy to so many countries I forgot them all. I did not see you mention the establishment of democracy in places like South Africa, Namibia, East Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Nicaragua, Albania, Bosnia, East Timor, Grenada, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ... shall I continue?

How much selfishness and lost GDP and missing savings does that account for?

Also, in being such a lost generation, who should be accountable for the generational shaking advances in pre-natal birth care, eradication of so many diseases I cannot write them all, systems that protect people from the hurricanes and disaster of a generation ago that would kill hundreds of thousands, legal systems that deliver justice to peoples that never existed 50 years ago, etc.

Look. There is a huge chunk of what you say I agree with. But you miss perspective that would add credibility to your point. You view the pre-shallowest generation world as perfect, and parse the worse of what we have wrought upon the world.

Our system has self-correcting mechanisms, brute and unpleasant as they may be, that are now kicking into gear. That is the beauty of our system and democracy ... you can run, you can hide, but in the end you will pay. There is no escape.

James, you need to collaborate with other minds to get the missing perspective you are unable or are unwilling to include. Then, you will form a more perfect option.

Thanks for your thoughts.

A proud son of exemplary father of the 'Greatest Generation'

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