The Lucky Generation Salutes The Greatest

by Dessa Rodeffer
Quill Editor/Publisher

17 March1999

You can't talk about St. Patrick's Day without talking about luck. March is my birthday month, and I'm one of the lucky American women, because I was born in 1947.

Why was this lucky, you ask?

Because it was right after the war ended. Women before me had endured The Great Depression, surviving through world wars, civil wars, and many others. Besides the wars and depression, those born before me did without modern medicine, modern travel and many other conveniences.

Whenever we hit another milestone, like a birthday, anniversary, or head into the next century, we tend to look back more than we look ahead into the unknown.

As I grew up in the fifties and sixties I really enjoyed this era. At the time of my birth our churches were full of families, downtown was full of Saturday afternoon and evening shoppers and movie watchers, and church and community activities were a priority with almost everyone.

There was a lot of patriotism, too. People were very much interested in the political process of our government, including our state, county, villages and schools.

I am as excited about the computer and internet era that is growing so rapidly since the first American walked on the moon, as my grandparents were over their first inside bathroom. If I had to make a choice between the two, I'd take my laptop to the out-house.

A new book, "The Greatest Generation" by Tom Brokaw which I recently acquired from a female veteran friend of mine is quite an inspiration to me. It is a story of the lessons from the generation that preceded me, something Brokaw said he had pushed aside during the days of his "innocence in the fifties" and his busy career as a reporter covering the "upheaval of the sixties" brought on by the political turmoil of Vietnam, and "Watergate in the seventies."

Brokaw is the sole anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, where some of the stories from his book has been aired under the same title as the book: "The Greatest Generation". It is full of stories of heroes of the war ordinary people, heroes, women in uniform, famous people, etc.

On the TV morning show "Regis and Kathie Lee", Brokaw talked some of the disrespect for their elders by some of our youth. Brokaw said he had seen an elderly man slowly approaching a stop sign in his automobile when a young man leaned on his car horn shouting for the old man to "get out of his way."

What the young driver did not realize is that this "old" man was probably one of the soldiers who fought in the battles that saved this country.

Possibly he even saved his father, or uncle, maybe even his mother or an aunt that was a nurse. This feeble old man had the endurance and fortitude in his youth that most of our youth know nothing about. This great generation that was born in time to serve in battle, did so in the hopes that the younger generation would never have to endure such a thing.

Many who served, Brokaw said, will not even let those younger than them know of the horror of the war they served in.

I hope families buy Tom Brokaw's book. Discuss it together so our generation can share in the lessons this great generation has to teach us.

We who have not had to endure a war, let's count ourselves lucky, but let us learn why we are lucky and salute the brave generation who blessed us so.