Both of my grandfathers served in World War II. My grandmothers and the grandparents of many of my friends would sometimes talk about rationing certain items or collecting certain metals back home for the war effort.
These people had also lived through the Great Depression. Some of them still had a habit of being cautious with resources, as a result (my wife says her grandmother’s cookies always tasted like soap because she washed and reused plastic baggies, and I vaguely remember my maternal grandmother reusing nylon hose for things like Christmas stockings).
I often look at that time as one of unified spirit and purpose in this country. It’s always a little more complicated than that, though. I only recently learned that support for continued conflict in the Pacific Theater during WWII was waning in America around the time the bloody fight on the small but crucial island of Iwo Jima was taking place. There were many back home who were weary of the continued struggle. Maybe that’s common knowledge these days, but it was new to me when I visited the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, over the summer. I’ve been there many times, and it seems like I learn something new each visit.
When that photo from Iwo Jima of six Marines raising the American Flag — forever captured in that awe-inspiring statue at the memorial — hit newsstands in the United States, it reignited the country’s passion to support their soldiers overseas. Slumping war bond sales skyrocketed. Thank God they did.
We look back at that time and we see what we term the Greatest Generation, and with good reason. But, sometimes, we forget that they were human. Soldiers suffered PTSD, there just wasn’t a clinical name for it then. Americans back home had fears and doubts and questions about the right path for the country, and whether they should continue to support a long, bloody conflict. Fortunately, they didn’t all have their own podcasts to amplify the anxiety.
We look back at WWII, and at things like the New Deal and, while we recognize there were tragedies and mistakes, we see a nation caring for its own and fighting against real tyranny in the form of genocidal regimes.
There were people who opposed the New Deal. There were people who opposed the war. Would we look back and say those people were right?
I’ve covered this ground before, because our present is so fractious and factionalized, and I have my own fears and doubts about the fate of the country. Deep down, I’m an eternal optimist, but that flame burns dim under layers of realism and cynicism.
Are we forever going to be divided over straightforward solutions and common sense regarding public health during this pandemic? Will we continue to call things “tyrannical,” when they’re nothing of the sort and most of us have never seen the real thing? Will large majorities of Americans ever be able to agree on basic facts again? Will we throw away the biggest and best chance we have at rebuilding West Virginia, the nation and lifting millions out of poverty because of blind, raw-nerved politics?
The Greatest Generation wasn’t perfect, but they kick-started a world superpower. Are we going to be remembered as the ones who chose death, decay and social stagnation because, from our workplaces to our school boards to the halls of Congress, we’re just that stubborn, selfish and, in some cases, willfully misinformed? Will we lose something that would benefit everyone because, in our narrow scope these days, that means one side wins?
Some of what we’re dealing with is complicated, but not all of it. Sometimes, there’s right and wrong. I fear we’re losing the ability to tell one from the other, and that troubles me.
It’s cold comfort that those who came before us had similar struggles that often are overlooked because of the broader outcome, which happened to be generally to the great benefit of the country. I can only hope that’s the case for us, too.
"Opinion" - Google News
October 28, 2021 at 06:30AM
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