Two generations stand out in my mind. The first is that of my Dad, which has been termed the “Greatest Generation.” The other is that of my son and daughter. While this may be natural for a Dad, I am in a unique position to note some similarities.
I had a life-long, incredible relationship with my Dad. The following is a quote from my book, The Orphan Boy, A Love Affair with Mining.
“One September afternoon I sat on the dump of a small mine in Colorado with a unique man, my dad, Herbert T. Young. Even at 12,000 feet, the sun was bright and warm, and the sky was so very blue. Below, the aspen leaves were just starting to turn gold, and there was a hint of fall in the air.
We had talked on the way up the rocky, steep road about the mines and the history of the area, as we often did. I never got tired of the many stories Dad told about his experiences and information he gathered in researching the mining district.
Arriving at the Orphan Boy mine, we sat down and had a cup of coffee from Dad’s ever present thermos. Even though I had previously heard many of his stories about this mine that started his love affair with mining, they seemed much more real as I sat with him in that remote and peaceful basin.
My eyes were drawn to the rugged splendor of the high peaks; Brittle Silver Mountain, Grizzly Peak, Revenue Mountain... Along the horizon were Gray’s and Torrey’s, two of Colorado’s fourteeners. The air was so clean I felt like I could almost reach out and touch the peaks across the Warden Gulch basin. Morgan Peak, behind me, and Santa Fe Peak to the south looked so close it seemed like I could hike to them in just a few minutes.
Everywhere I looked were evidences of the mining and prospecting that went on in a different time. I noticed the reddish brown and yellow gossans that streaked the mountain slopes in several places. All the while, this remote valley was very quiet, almost as if our thoughts themselves interrupted the solitude. This scene stirred something in my soul that words cannot begin to explain.
I thought of Dad and the many experiences he related to me. I noticed he was also scanning the mountains, deep in thought. He turned and smiled at me, with his brown eyes shining. I knew we were thinking, feeling and experiencing the same closeness to God in that moment.
The feeling of kinship I experienced while sitting on that mine dump were similar to the feelings I had during the times Dad and I worked underground together. Working underground brings a special sense of closeness where everyone looks after one another. Even with 30 years difference in our ages, we were kindred souls.
I worked with Dad during the summers and after college graduation until his death and had the fortune to experience firsthand why his generation was named the ‘greatest generation’.
He was typical of the World War II generation whose lives were interrupted by that war. When they came back home, they changed both America and the world in a special way.”
As I get older, I watch my generation at the height of their power and prestige. I can’t help but compare them to that of my Dad.
A recent blog on ZeroHedge entitled “25 statist propaganda phrases and how to rebut them” [source - http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-14/25-statist-propaganda-phrases-and-how-rebut-them ] reveals much about my generation. The original source of the blog is as follows - http://reece.liberty.me/2015/03/09/25-statist-propaganda-phrases-and-how-to-rebut-them/ . The phrases listed are generally applicable in regard to today’s society. However, three seem to be especially relevant in demonstrating the difference between my generation (the Baby Boomer generation) and that of my Dad.
The first on my list is the concept of the “free world.’ This has been sold to my generation as a consequence of fighting the Russians and the “iron curtain all through the “cold war.” We needed “rulers” to protect us from the Russian “bear.” We were incapable of making our own decisions, despite advocating “freedom for all” in our youth.
5. “The leader of the free world”
“The free world” does not exist; each individual person exists. Again, we are speaking of rulers rather than all types of leaders. Free people do not have rulers; they rule themselves.
However, as my Dad’s generation knew, “free people do not have rulers, they rule themselves”. Dad’s generation understood the idea of ruling themselves. They kept themselves far less ruled than my generation has. President Eisenhower was correct when he warned of the “military-industrial” complex, for which a requirement is a ruling class..
Dad was a decorated war hero in World War II. However, he had very little choice when he entered the service in 1942. The compulsory draft was instituted late in 1940.
“Congress passed the Selective Training and Service Act (September 16, 1940), creating the country's first peacetime military conscription program. Conscription in America is commonly referred to as the draft. The initial act authorized the conscription of men, but placed a limit of 0.9 million on the number to be trained. The period of service was set at 12 months.” – Source: http://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/cou/us/aod/draft/aod-draft.html
Dad was caught by this legislation and before his conscription term was up, the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred and war was declared. His and millions of other Americans had their lives interrupted and changed. He had a job lined up at a tin mine in Chile and was preparing to embark on a career in mining.
The next phrase in the statists list of 25 (number 8) is applicable to Dad’s generation as well as mine. It applies to World War II and all “wars” afterward.
8. “Our military”
If the military is “ours,” then “we” should be able to exercise exclusive control over it. But “we” neither command the military nor have the freedom to destroy it. Thus it is not “ours”; it is a tool of the ruling classes used to make it very difficult for citizens to violently overthrow the government, provide a last line of defense for the state in the form of martial law should the citizens succeed in violently overthrowing the government, and present a deterrent to other rulers elsewhere in the world who might seek to take over the state and capture the tax base for themselves.
Despite his valiant and decorated service, Dad always maintained that he had nothing against the Japanese people that he fought against. In his opinion, World War II was “Roosevelt’s war.”
When they returned from the War, Dad’s generation started where they left off. Many were able to go to college, which was a “government financed” program. Prior to the war, “higher education” was expensive. Dad got his degree prior to the war, primarily because of his sports prowess.
Anyway, after the war generation received access to college and higher education, they “got to work” and built a country like none the world has seen. They were both innovative and industrious, and realized education was a tool to be used to benefit themselves and others. They wanted to create a better world for all people.
In contrast to Dad’s generation, my generation started its youth with unprecedented wealth. We became very politically and socially active. “Drugs, Sex and Rock and Roll” was the governing phrase. We wanted “freedom.”
Our activism stemmed in large part from the Vietnam War, which like World War II and the Korean War, reflects phrase #8 of the statist list above. Because of the “draft,” many young men ended up fighting an “enemy” which they neither knew nor had any animosity against. Certainly, the country of Vietnam was not a military threat against the United States or its “national security” in any way.
While some actions may require a government, those actions first require the voluntary consent of the majority of the people in a “free” society. Dad and my Granddad’s generation were aware of this and held their “rulers” far more accountable than rulers are today. In addition, the rulers themselves, being of that generation, took their responsibility and trust much more seriously than they do today.
19 “Government is necessary”
This is a positive claim which carries a burden of proof. By itself, this is a claim asserted without logic or evidence and may therefore be dismissed without logic or evidence.
However, after the war in Vietnam winded down, my generation settled in to a life of comfort and excess, and it shows. Technology was advancing rapidly and we were taking advantage of it.
The political activism and desire to “change the world” embraced by my generation in their youth morphed into almost complete chaos politically because we did not have the will to follow through or the character to effect the changes. My generation lost their will and desire to do the things necessary to create the change we professed to believe in because of the lure of excess. Instead of taking responsibility and ruling, we allowed ourselves to be ruled.
As a result, absolute greed has essentially taken over most of our global societies and political structures. We continue to follow and embrace that same pattern. If you doubt it, just look at our political parties (those with an “R” or “D” behind their names). Those people don’t represent me, and if you really analyze it, they don’t represent 99% of Americans, either morally, financially or ethically. Sadly, they represent the highest level of a society in a life of extreme power, comfort and excess.
So what about the generation to come; that of my son William and my daughter Laura? They seem to be very practical and much more grounded than my own generation. I see in them many of the traits of my Dad’s generation.
While it is true, many of them are interested in using the current technology and seem to be immersed in it. That is to be expected because they have grown up with it and it comes very natural to them.
For example, I watched my son and daughter-in-law research the real estate market while buying a home recently. The following MSN quote describes their approach to the complexities of this business.
“Younger buyers want to know what to expect and when. “I see them wanting to understand what’s going on at any time in the process more than any other generation,” says Paul Reid, a Redfin agent in Southern California’s Inland Empire region.” - http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/moneyinyour20s/10-ways-millennials-are-changing-homebuying/ss-AA9yDra#image=4
“Millennials expect to be partners in the home search, and they want quick answers to questions. “They want information, and they want valid information, and they want it right now,” Reid says. “They’re the generation of Google at your fingertips.””
“Many millennial homebuyers get recommendations on agents from their parents, but they also do some research online before they ever call an agent. They want to see testimonials on an agent’s website, as well as read online reviews.”
They make use of the technology developed by my generation. But they also have a natural curiosity about the world around them which my generation, in general, didn’t seem to have.
They tend to value real education, not necessarily that which is taught at today’s universities. Many are more interested in vocational training than “higher education,” (which today comes at an extreme cost).
They also seem to be naturally curious about the world around them, and as noted above don’t take many of the “statist propaganda phrases” as truth, like my generation has. In fact, my generation seems to have fostered, if not invented, many of those phrases as they sank into excess. They do not take the utterances of someone with an “R” or “D” behind their name as truth just because their parents belong to the “R” or “D” party.
After watching my children, their spouses and some of their friends, I am positive about the future. In many ways, they remind me of Dad and his generation. I am hopeful that they will follow in the footsteps of their grandparents and reinvent the phrase “greatest generation.”
Sincerely,
H. Court Young
Author, publisher, speaker and geologist
Promoting awareness through the written word
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