“This generation has a rendezvous with destiny,” said President Franklin Roosevelt, referring to the generation that evolved from the Great Depression of the 1930s into World War II; and which Tom Brokaw referred to as “The Greatest Generation.” The Millennials also have a rendezvous with destiny. They will inherit a bankrupt country along with a bankrupt world. Will they become the Greatest Generation 2.0?
“Our children are our elders in universe time,” said Buckminster Fuller; and it can be difficult for my generation to accept this.
The older generation typically wishes that the newer generation will ‘do it’ their way. When I was young, parents would ask that we kids should ‘write to them’ while we kids preferred to use the telephone. Today, my generation can’t understand why the Millennials can’t pick up a phone.
Yet, there are so many similarities between the Greatest Generation and the Millennials. In the 30s, incomes were very low and unemployment was 25%. For Millennials, incomes are very low and underemployment, by some accounts, approaches 25%. The Greatest Generation faced a world at war and, survival of our society was in question. They accepted their “rendezvous” with a genuine sense of duty. They accepted many burdens gracefully.
The Millennials now face a world at war of a different setting. They accept an economy that is on a course of bankruptcy, not only in the U.S., but worldwide. They accept the sickness of school loans that were designed to perpetuate poverty, they accept a medical insurance system which charges young people much higher rates to the benefit of the older generation. They accept the call to duty created by global warming along with a sickened tax structure that perpetuates Greed, with a capital G.
And, so many of our youth are excited to be a part of life! Do they know something that we older folks missed?
I often hear, “you’re the generation that created this mess, now you’re going to tell us how we should fix it!”
Then, I have heard, “don’t worry, we’ll deal with it,” politely telling us to get out of the way. They are a polite and kind generation, at times maybe too kind and polite. Yes, they are absent of resentment while the mature portion of our society resents almost everything.
So, they hear the call to duty — their rendezvous with destiny.
My bet is that they will become “The Greatest Generation 2.0.”
