The Greatest Generation

For those of you who have no memory of either history or taking history classes while in school... or if you never saw the movie Saving Private Ryan... I'd like to take a moment and discuss with you the Greatest Generation.

World War II was fought, from an American perspective, from 1941 to 1945, although the Europeans mostly consider the start date to rest in 1939 and the Asian Theater began operations as early as 1935. Millions died. Millions were wounded. What is essentially the single most devastating pre-9/11 terrorist attack is what drew the United States into the war, as 2,700-plus Americans were killed at Pearl Harbor.

As the soldiers of the United States rose to meet the call to arms, the nation rallied behind them. While the Big Red One was marching through Kasserine Pass, men and women from all across the nation were descending on Mobile and other port cities to help build ships for the war effort.

I've said before that if the United States armed forces had carried embedded reporters as they do now, the Normandy invasion would likely never have happened, especially after everything fell apart so horribly on Omaha Beach. As it stands, D-Day can be considered the turning point of the global conflict.

So, back to the Greatest Generation. This title has been applied to those who lived through the second World War, those who fought, died, survived, worked, farmed, those who kept this nation afloat during great calamity.

I understand the meaning behind it, and I really don't have a problem with it per se. The principle of the matter, though, is as follows: We've been told for the last few years that, since the World War II generation is the greatest generation, that we can never match up with them. Essentially, entire generations since then have been told "you'll never be as good."

I can't support that sentiment. Sure, the World War II generation deserves loads of respect. They were still battling out of depression. Then, war came. So, yeah, they did great things.

But to label them as the "greatest generation" is akin to insulting every generation before and since. Thank you, soldiers in the "war on terror," but you'll never bee what these people were. Thanks, founding fathers, for having the bravery to stand up to Britain, putting your lives on the line and declaring us free, but it still doesn't amount to what the World War II generation did. Nice try, though.

The Reagan babies, no chance. You tried a trickle down economy, not even close to defying a global evil. You don't even get an A for effort.

What I'm trying to say is this: let's hold off calling any generation the greatest. It tells every other generation that, no matter how hard they try, they'll never be good enough.