The Last Great Generation?

Let’s be honest, there will never be another “Greatest Generation.” Years ago, Tom Brokaw authored a book singing the praises of the World War II generation, appropriately calling it the “greatest” because of its role in changing the world. It’s unfortunate, but because of the attitudes of Gen X and Gen Y, this level of appreciation will likely never resurface.

I myself am part of Generation Y, and proud of it. We’re smart, capable, non-traditional, and fun-seeking. We’re also demanding, though—not necessarily in a bad way, but we demand answers for what doesn’t make sense. “Because it’s the way we’ve always done it” no longer suffices for a Gen Y’ers question about operating procedure or policy. We see the way our parents (Boomers) are treated by their companies and don’t want the same outcome. Ok...so what does this have to do with anything? Because so much has been written about Gen Y, and Gen Y’ers have embraced the persona, a noticeable chip has formed on our collective shoulder. As far as we’re concerned, we can often do no wrong. And because we’ve seen the way our parents were treated or disagree with how they treated us, we naturally resent authority. We can’t conceive that some old hag could possibly share our ideals or put programs/policies/initiatives in place that are in line with what we believe.

I don’t mean for this to be politically charged, but an obvious example is the attitude toward World War II versus the War in Iraq. Soldiers from the Iraqi War will never be appreciated the same way as WWII vets because of the failure to get behind the cause. Whether you agree with the war or not, you must support soldiers risking their lives to preserve American freedom. But this is often overlooked because we are too concerned with our own agendas and what’s in it for us.

Since the heroes of war will seemingly never be appreciated again, what will it take to garner that same level of respect and appreciation? Our country is currently struggling through a terrible financial crisis the likes of which we’ve never seen. We’re going to get out of it…we all know this. But will we champion those responsible for leading us out of the recession and into the impending cyclical boom? Will we all take credit for it? Because of political agendas, will the true heroes be overlooked? Who knows. These last few years have been world-changing, just as WWII (although on a completely different and incomparable scale) was world-changing. What is going to take for us to consider another generation truly “great?”

I can only hope that the next time a global conflict of WWII-stature arises that a) I can live through it, b) good prevails over evil, and c) we realize the importance and heroism of the game-changing players. We need to get rid of the shoulder-chip, remain somewhat humble, and keep things in perspective. Only then will we be able to appreciate the greatness of a generation.