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TheLyleFinalDefinition

Page history last edited by PBworks 18 years, 5 months ago

The Greatest Generation

What makes a generation great? Let’s first define generation by describing it as "a group of individuals born and living about the same time or a group of generally contemporaneous individuals regarded as having common cultural or social characteristics and attitudes" (Lexico). Now let us define great as "of outstanding significance or importance or superior in quality or character; noble; influential" (Lexico). So what would make a great generation? A great generation would have to be a group of people who have experienced many unique and life altering events that would in turn shape the outcome of that generation’s character in order to be different or “greater” compared to other generations. A great generation is a group of people in time who is significantly different compared to other generations and would serve as a role model and should be reflected upon and learned from.

 

Would anyone disagree with your definition? If not, then it's not really up for grabs.

 

The greatest generation, my grandparent’s generation, are the people who have persevered through some of America’s ugliest times, and as a result, are the wisest and most experienced generation in history with an understanding of life and humanity that far surpasses any generation. This group of people (all but the youngest of whom were born before World War II) are the keepers of the values which that period in time advocated, values and principles that seem to have become lost or forgotten in the future generations. Such core values are dedication, sacrifice, hard work, patience, respect for authority, adherence to rules, but mainly, duty before pleasure. The generation of men and women who came of age during the Great Depression and World War II endured two of the greatest upheavals in America’s history and faced these challenges with courage and determination that is difficult for future generations to comprehend. Out of the 12 generations in the 229 years since America became independent, only one of these generations has been coined The Greatest Generation.

 

Many of this generation’s parents came to this country as immigrants. The children of these immigrants watched their parents’ labor at carving out a decent existence in their new world. They watched their parents put work before their own pleasure; they appreciated what freedom meant to their parents. They grew up on stories about relatives overseas and the goodness of what America had to offer if you were willing to work very hard. These were people who grew up around the Great Depression and watched their parents struggle to keep their families alive. The stock market crash of 1929 affected their parents deeply and would later show in the frugalness and thriftiness of their children. Then came the day that would live in infamy, December 7, 1941, the day that changed everything. This greatest generation, many who were the children of immigrants, would now loose their innocence. The world was being attacked and democracy was threatened. It was this generation which was inspired to band together and protect their country, their parent’s country, and their future children’s country as well as to defend other parts of the world.

One could argue that this generation could never be the greatest due to the fact that many were racist in the past. You could say that it took their children’s generation to end segregation and racial hate. My retort to this response shows up in how the United States military handled those who enlisted. "Until World War II, the United States military segregated service members into all-black units and all-white units, but the war ended most segregation in the army. For African Americans who grew up in the South in the 1940s, the army was a refuge from segregation" (Allen). World War II opened most of these men up, for the first time in their lives, to diversity and working with different kinds of people. Also, many people of this generation were racist due to the fact that their parents had instilled certain stereotypes on them at a young age. In the first time in history, there was a large boom in the number of people going to colleges and universities, and many of them would get the opportunity to learn about diversity for the first time because of this. College gave this generation a well educated background in order to have kids that were used to this kind of diversity and racism in the world.

 

Suburban communities started to spring up all over the country such as Levittown which was built by a returning serviceman named William Levitt. Because highways were being built all around the country, families started taking vacations to areas like national parks and the newly created Disneyland. Shopping malls such as Roosevelt Field, in Long Island, Sharpstown Mall, Gulfgate Mall and Meyerland Plaza in Houston helped create these central marketing areas. This Greatest Generation modernized America.

 

One could argue that this generation in “modernizing America” increased pollution and gave rise to the decline of natural resources more than any generation in the past. On the contrary, in modernizing, they also shaped the way we look at the world and our foreign relations with other countries. The League of Nations, created by President Woodrow Wilson was Wilson, was unsuccessful in preventing World War II. Therefore a new international order was constructed. In 1945 the United Nations was formed in an attempt to make the world a closer and more secure community. Organizations like these would advocate new pollution laws and teach future generations about the importance of conserving. Also, President Bush has not been helping in the fight for Mother Earth. So this makes my generation far worse, concerning natural resources, than any generation in the past.

 

The effect that the greatest generation had on future generations of Americans was enormous. The fact that they held such strong values gave us insight into how to be better people. They are a window into the past for us to learn from. The paradox this generation gave to their children was one of strong values and safety, as well as the horror of segregation. "The Baby Boomer generation certainly did not have to suffer from an economic calamity as devastating as the Great Depression, nor did they have to fight and win the most monstrous war in the history of humankind. To 'the greatest generation,' the Baby Boomers have enjoyed the bounty of their efforts" (Sabol). This paved the way for the cultural revolution of the 1960s. They were coddled and protected and given everything their parents’ generation longed for. Their parents did not want their own children to suffer what they went through in their lives. Unfortunately they somewhat spoiled this generation and made for a more self-centered generation to develop in the future.

 

The greatest generation lost its innocence by experiencing some of America’s most difficult times and because of this developed a strong moral code by which they lived and passed on to future generations. These people should be regarded as role models; a generation to reflect upon and learn from. The men and women who make up this group of people truly are The Greatest Generation.

Nice bibliography

 

Bibliography:

 

• Sabol, Regis T. “The Greatest Generation”. Intervention Magazine. 10 Mar. 2005 <http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?file=article&amp;name=News&amp;op=modload&amp;sid=9>.

 

• Allen, Anita L. The New Ethics. New York: Miramax Books, 2004.

 

• Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. Copyright © 2005. Dictionary. 19 Sep. 2005

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