On this election day, we have endured countless and nauseating political advertisements, riots in our streets, unending rhetoric from politicians who proclaim to work for the common good and people, yet smirk and disregard what is needed from the ground up for all American's, legislating for the will of the few rather than the will of the many, unending and false accusations that have utter divided our country, glorifying and justifying relentless flag burning and hatred for those who love this country, tearing down our past so that future generations will have difficulty understand and correcting our mistakes in the future, limiting and preventing freedom of speech solely for ones party affiliation, allowing the poor and underemployed to fend for themselves while our government prevents help purely for partisan reasons and so much more.
Because of these antics, we have only enabled and allowed this generation to continue on with this bad behavior without repercussions and the understanding of how to cope with that which makes us stronger and grow as an adult. This generation, I fear, will never grow up and learn how to cope with struggles, hardships and that which butts heads with our ideals. We teach our children to accept that which we cannot change as well as coping with outcomes that we don't agree with. Many of this generations youths do not know the meaning of complacency or acceptance. Let's put this into perspective from one generation to another and maybe we can all sit back and pull our big boy pants up or understand that the world does NOT evolve around us.
If you were born, for example, between 1905-1910 and lived a normal lifespan of 85-90 years old, as many of our great grandparents and grandparents did, you.....
-Lived through the devastating WWI, the War to End all Wars. When you were a child, the talk at the supper table, schools and on the street scared you to death from 1914-1918.
All the while hearing about about 5 million of your loved ones and fellow American's being drafted and dying on the front lines. You were scared, yet you endured and made it!
-Lived through the troubling Spanish Flu a year later in 1918 and lasting for 2 years.
With over a third of the earth's population infected and almost 700,000 dying in America alone. You were scared, yet you endured and made it!
-Nine years later, the great Depression hit close to home...literally! Food was scarce, money non existent and jobs vanished(along with your families assets).
Lasting 10 years, your family was scared, yet you endured and made it!
-When the Depression subsided and your parents(or you if an adult)pulled yourselves up by the boot straps, WWII began. Your family, again, was called to their patriotic duty and fought for your rights and ability to feed yourself. Over a million of your friends and family were either maimed or killed during this conflict. And if that wasn't enough, you found out that over 10 million of your Jewish "family" was killed just because they threatened German ideals. You were scared, yet you endured and made it!
-Now that you are in your 40s, a whole new 'war' broke out, the Cold War. For decades, culminating in the Cuban Missile Crisis, you thought that any minute, the "Reds" were going to land on our shores and take over our country. And the possibility was all too real. We did indeed come within days of beginning a global, and catastrophic, ending to life as we were accustomed. Our fears were fueled by accusations and witch hunts that were baseless and only sought to input fear into our minds by Sen. McCarthy. You were scared, yet you endured and made it!
-Now in your 50s, you watch as your children or grandchildren are scared to death as they learn a new 'game' at school. The Duck and Cover.
These children could remove themselves from the television and family talk about the "Reds" but now this same fear rearing its ugly head at school. They were taught how to survive a nuclear attack by shielding themselves underneath their school desks! You were scared for them and yourself, yet you endured and made it!
-Now in your late 50s and the Korean Conflict breaks out and we involve ourselves in 1950. About 100,000 of our American family were wounded and almost 50,000 died. You were scared yet you endured and made it!
-Getting ready to relax for your golden years, the Vietnam War breaks out and you are worried for your loved ones once again.
For the next 10 years, you would lose almost 60,000 of your friends, family and neighbors during this conflict, and it scared you. Yet you endured and made it!
-Inching closer to finally being able to stash away some money for retirement, the recession hits close to home, preceded by the stock market crash of 1973. You couldn't get out to buy gas because of the oil crisis and the economic boom from the last World War came to a screeching halt. You many not have been scared but you endured and made it!
-The Cold War of the early 80s brought back that feeling from the 60s. Constantly worried that communist Soviet Union would launch a fearsome ICBM right into your back yard had you devouring news as soon as it became available. This threat was real and daily and we were reminded of just how powerful another land was on earth and if we didn't mind our p's and q's, an all out conflict was inevitable. Yet we endured and made it!
-Now fully retired and having learned to deal with that which you cannot change, the Gulf War begins in 1990. Being able to watch every move of our troops on television in real time only fueled your anxiety and fear but as you had done throughout your entire life, you endured and made it!
So the next time you feel a need to run to your safe room because you are made at someone or lost an election, feel the need to destroy someone else's property because you did not agree with a decision or you find the need to grab your support iguana in order to cope with an obstacle, remember how your grandparents and great grandparents were able to cope in order to function daily, eat, sleep and exist to the best of their ability. How do you think they would view the way you are acting when you can't handle something that you don't agree with....or that scares you?
