An Old Celebration Is Still Fresh With Promise
It was refreshing to be reminded of my seventh birthday, Aug. 14, 1945. Over the years it came and went with so little mention of “V-J Day” that I began to mistrust my memory of that most wonderful celebration that happened when I was 7.
My mother and I were in a small western Pennsylvania steel town, staying with her older sister. Unlike our hometown of Claysville, Pa., Washington, just 10 miles away, had a hospital and Mom, I was told, was about have a baby. (I hadn’t noticed.)
Hearing this loud noise, my cousin and I rushed downtown where the streets were filled with laughing, shouting people. Every office window seemed open, and people were throwing out small bits of paper they called confetti. We ran to the Episcopal church with the red door when we heard its bell clanging away. My cousin dared to ask the man if he could ring the bell and the man said yes to both of us. I could barely keep my feet on the ground! All that and birthday cake!
Two days later, my younger brother was born. And though we grew up to share the same calling (and the same astrological sign), we view ourselves and our country very differently.
He never saw our country celebrate with a single voice; he has no memory of young adults being universally praised and thanked. He came to awareness through the McCarthy era, where large segments of our society were viewed with hatred and suspicion, a legacy that continues unabated. He didn’t know about the G.I. Bill and V.A. loans as our nation’s determination to help its young get started after the war’s frightful interruption of their adolescence.
His sense of entitlement, which he shares with so many of the baby boomer generation, offends me. Maybe he and they are demanding the blessing which World War II vets received and which so strengthened our country. Perhaps it’s time for the World War II vets to worry less about tax cuts and to invest more in our nation’s youth. Perhaps it’s time to be less suspicious and more willing to join in common cause to support the next generation.
Youth deserve our blessing not because they have fought, killed and died for us, but because they are our future.
MEMO: Your Turn is a feature of the Wednesday and Saturday Opinion page. To submit a column for consideration, call Rebecca Nappi/459-5496, or Doug Floyd/459-5466.