Issue 2.13
There was an article in the newspapers and on the evening news that quoted President Clinton. He said “Other generations have had adversities and have had to tighten their belts so the older generation must also learn to sacrifice”. Mr. Clinton said that about the generation that I am a member of. That statement cut me to the bone. My friends and I didn’t think that the establishment would find out about our generational secret but President Clinton did. Up until this day, we have lived the life of a pampered generation. Now the younger generation has caught up with us. The stark truth is that we are a pampered generation. During the years of the 1930’s, some of us took long traveling vacations especially those of us that lived in Oklahoma or Arkansas. We traveled with our material wealth, one mattress tied to the roof of our cars but if we were quite wealthy, we had two mattresses tied to the roof. We then “took California without firing a shot”. On our travels, we often stopped at one of a chain of fabulous outdoor soup restaurants but we had to stand in line to get our cups filled. Toward the end of that interesting decade, some of us guys got a notice in the mail inviting us to go to work for the government. They provided us with new clothes so we could all dress alike. Some of us signed up to go on exciting all expense cruises around Hawaii and many other romantic islands in the Pacific. Some of us were privileged to watch the greatest fire works display put on by the Japanese navy at Pearl Harbor.
We had a chance to get good suntans on the beaches of Guadalcanal, two Jima, Leyte, Tarawa, Wake Island and many exciting beaches in the Pacific Ocean. An unforgettable stroll was from Bataan to more accommodating places to live courtesy of the nation of Japan.
Meanwhile, some of us took escorted air tours to such interesting and hot cities in Germany such as Berlin, Hamburg, Ploesti, Schweinfurt, and then we saw the famous Cologne Cathedral.
The escorts were ME 109s and FW 190s provided by Herman Goering’s escort service.
Some of the guys got in on the great party of June 6, 1944 to go boating and swimming on the
French beaches of Normandy. That was an unforgettable, one in a century, party. These guys will never forget the party. A few years ago, President Kennedy said “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you could do for your country.” Darn, we should have heard that admonition two decades sooner. Instead my generation frittered away our youth wandering through the lush greenery of New Guinea and other lush Islands.
Yes, it is true; we were pampered and spoiled enough to let authorities treat us like spoiled children. We never did learn that along with our good times, we should give back to our younger citizens. We never did learn how to sacrifice for the good of others.
President Clinton, our generation is old, but not too old to warrant chastisement, so feel free to punish us for our failure so we can learn the true meaning of sacrifice, duty, honor and love of country.