America’s Everyday Heroes

By Katherine E. P
YC/Staff
Jan. 2, 2009

Editor’s Note: The following article was written by a 15-year old, while she was giving a speech at her school.

All Americans should read her words of wisdom as we face an upcoming year of possible New Depression being brought on by Obama’s financial policies.

What follows is the relevant excerpt from her speech.

We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

 

“Our generation has had no great war, no Great Depression.  Our war is spiritual.  Our depression is our lives.  Author Chuck Palahniuk makes this grim observation of younger generations in his book Fight Club. 

We are sometimes referred to as “Generation Me” – those of us born in the 80’s and 90’s.  We have the best education, technology and conveniences available to us. 

“So what makes us different from our grandparents and great-grandparents?  All the books and movies portray that group of people born just before the Great Depression as heroes; strong men and women who never complained about almost unbelievable ordeals of the Great Depression and WWII. 

In his best selling book, Tom Brokaw names them ‘The Greatest Generation.’  These ordinary men and women, people like my grandparents, have amazing stories full of sacrifice and a sense of purpose.” 

“Grandad saved up enough money to start college with one pair of pants, two shirts and a jacket.  A year later he was drafted out of college.  Grandad never talked much about the war. 

He stepped on a landmine and was blown against a tree and filled full of shrapnel.  The next four months he spent in army hospital, lucky to have both arms and legs.  For this he was awarded the purple heart.”

“GranMary illustrated the quality of Depression era off-base housing: ‘Two walls of the so-called garage apartment were cement blocks.  The others were cardboard boxes stapled together. 

The place had a rusty iron bed, a cracked mirror, a little table, and a two burner gas stove.  A light bulb hung from a wire from the ceiling and the water came from a spigot outside. 

In those days people were used to their lives being temporary and uncertain and we didn’t know what else there was. 

We sure didn’t expect anyone to take care of us – we just did what we had to do to survive.’ ”

“This generation of veterans and survivors of the Depression and WWII is dying.  Every day we lose over 1000 of these great men and women; these everyday heroes. 

They have stories we could be learning from that are going unheard. 

President Ronald Reagan said ‘Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation.’ 

My generation needs to listen and learn quickly before these people are gone.  We could learn their humility, their loyalty, their responsibility, their frugality and their hard work.  All the things that make them the greatest generation.”