Great generation

I have never been a big believer that the generation that won World War 2 was anything super special. They did what they had to do and when I have come in contact with these people, more often than not, they downplayed their role in keeping the world safe from Nazi insanity.

Lately I have had the joy of meeting a couple of men from that generation, men who served and went to war, men who came back, worked, saved, raised families and are now ailing. There is something profoundly different from these men. I am not quite sure what it is, but hearing how they came home, got married and often times worked for 30-40 years sounds strangely unfamiliar.

My first question is how we got here, where we are today? I know a lot of men who are just wimpy, and not wimpy like running from bar fights, but just no serious backbone, no dedication to the country, the world, making a better life for themselves and families. No, the more modern man seems focused more on themselves. Now, here is the tricky part, because I do not think that the generation from World War 2 actually sat down and plotted how to be considered the greatest generation, no I believe they just did what was expected.

Expectations are a funny thing. I was talking to a co-worker about this yesterday and she said how strange it would be to have a single job with a single company for 30 years. Strange because we all figure we can shop our services around and go to the company that suits our fancy. When that company does not work out, we move on. She said she expected to have about 20 jobs in the next 30 years, and looking back over my life, that seems about right.

It is not the job stability that is different. There is a fundamental attitude in modern man/woman. First, our generation, those from the Greatest Generation, are way more selfish and expect more perks just because we are, I am not sure, Americans, educated, spoiled?

I listen to these older men, talking about their lives, and in some ways they are kind of boring. Spending 30 years working in a factory, never moving past a fairly menial position, just does not seem like a life well lived to me. Here is the twist, so much of this was done to dedicate one life to make the lives of their children better. Imagine that, looking back at your working life and seeing that you may not have made the money you would have liked, or the vacations you wanted, or fill in the blank. What you do get to see is how better your childrens life is in the long run. Dedicating your life for the betterment of your childrens life? That is also seemingly unheard of in many of my compatriots.

That to me is the difference. The greatest generation came home and went to work. My generation and those around mine, are spoiled, selfish and unfocused, but mostly we did not grow up, we did not dedicate our lives to anything more important that ourselves. Our focus on our needs, our wants and our own future may have seemed smart for a while, but looking at the people who really paved the way for our economy and our country, I am left feeling like many of us have wasted out lives. Ironic, because when I hear about people spending 30-40 years toiling at jobs that seem boring, I thought they had wasted their lives.