The people who lived in those times were in constant fear that a loved one or a friend would be killed on the battlefield and they sacrificed for the war effort, including rationing of gasoline and many other staples they had always been able to buy without giving it a second thought.
In the end, the war effort was successful, though at quite a cost, and life returned to a new normal.
As I did my research for that book and my admiration for what has been referred to as "The Greatest Generation" grew, it occurred me that I have never been in a situation where I had to sacrifice anything.
When I was attending East Newton High School, my friends and I knew the day would come that we would be drafted and likely be deployed to Vietnam.
If I had been drafted, I was prepared to go, but that never happened.
Months before my 18th birthday, they stopped drafting young men and though we were all required to register, we were not required to enlist and we were not drafted.
I never served, though I have always had the highest admiration for those who did, including my sister Kelly.
With the end of the draft and the change to an all-volunteer military, that sense of shared responsibility and sacrifice gradually began to erode.
It was not something we really thought about until 9-11 when President George W. Bush called on us to shop, to let things continue as usual.
While it was probably the right call under the circumstances- to send a message to the terrorists that they had not won and we were not going to change our way of life due to their actions, it was a missed opportunity.
As the years passed, we began to have more and more elected officials who had not served in the military, including every president since George H. W. Bush.
The decisions to send our volunteers into combat, sometimes for questionable purposes, were being made by people who not only did not have a genuine understanding of what they were asking, but usually did not have any children or grandchildren who were serving.
They were making life-or-death decisions that did not affect anyone they love. It is easier to make those tough calls when you are unable to put any face on any people who might lose their lives as a result.
And it is not just politicians.
More and more people do not know anyone in any branch of the service. It is much easier for politicians to go to war for dubious reasons when the public is not as invested in the outcome.
As the COVID-19 situation has developed, we are being forced, with some people kicking and screaming, into changing our lives once again, hopefully not for long, but no one knows for certain.
The lives of the people who spend their time frothing at the mouth about what they consider to be the latest intolerable action by President Trump depend on those who believe an exorcist is needed to end the evil of Hillary Clinton and vice versa.
That doesn't mean we need to change our beliefs about those particular people or anyone else who is a target of partisan contempt. We still have the right and the obligation as citizens to speak out when we see wrong, but it is vital that we play our roles and be willing to do what is needed.
Perhaps in Joplin, we understand this in a more personal way, at least those of us who were here on May 22, 2011. All of us were affected in one way or another and we all played a role in the city's recovery.
The scars are still with us, but it was a shared experience, one that changed our lives in a profound way.
COVID-19 is a frightening nemesis and I have a deep fear of the unknown, as I am sure many of you do. The way to defeat that type of enemy is through a shared commitment.
Though we will limit our physical exposure to each other for the foreseeable future, it is critical that we lean on each other.
That was the road followed by "The Greatest Generation" when it emerged triumphant at the conclusion of the war to end all wars.
It is a lesson well learned.
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The Buck Starts Here: Harry S. Truman and the City of Lamar is available in paperback and e-book formats from Amazon at the links below.
1 comment:
Thank you, Randy. Excellent column. I, too, had noted we have not had to sacrifice as our parents and grandparents did during WW2. Then and now, some of the sacrifices were forced. Materials banned for sale to civilians in the early 1940s; today, edicts to stay home in NY and California, and elsewhere, places we want to go being closed by government order or voluntary decision. But people participated in bond drives during WW2, to sacrifice beyond what had been mandated. Not sure what the equivalent is now. Maybe just staying home with a minimum of beefing about it.
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