Since Donald Trump began his campaign with the slogan “Make America Great Again,” various debates have arisen over the time period Mr. Trump is emphasizing. Many youths in America believe that there was no such thing as a time when America was “great.”
Many believe that America is a terrible land, in which the ethnic minorities are persecuted on a daily basis, no one matters, and that there is a system against everyone of non-Caucasian skin tone.
This generation is being exposed to an ever growing globalization that is becoming a double-edge sword. On the one hand these people are being exposed to a vast amount of information from across the globe, all at their fingertips. On the other hand, it has also introduced a means of questioning the world as a whole.
To a lesser extent, this questioning can be narrowed down to the United States and the police force that is tasked with safeguarding the people and upholding the written laws. It’s due to all of this media that there is currently a massive movement towards a de-militarization of the police.
This generation has utilized the global technology to spread the idea that all police are terrible people. This is consequence of all of the shootings of African-Americans, and the witness’s side of the story, not to mention the fact that in so many instances the darkness of America’s past has been retold time after time.
But no one wants to remember the good, only the bad. For my part, as a student of history, I’ve learned some things and one of them is that the United States of America was great. For those wondering which periods of time I’m referring to, allow me to shine some light.
No other example is greater than the story of the Great Depression, and how Americans bared the burden of suffering. This economic downturn that resulted in the worst depression in history left many Americans without food, shelter or a job. However, it would be because of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal that would allow America to attempt to recover and restore hope.
That was a mere stepping stone to the events that would come in the future, when Adolf Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, the world was once again at war. Despite remaining neutral through the first two years, America still attempted to aid the Allies. This was through Lend-Lease, Cash and Carry, and several Alphabet departments that came out of the New Deal.
When America finally joined the war, the creation of a professional army was needed. People from every corner of America were enlisted to aid in the war against the Scourge of the Pacific and the Demon of Europe. The men varied not only from where they were from, but their ethnic groups. Everyone fought, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Italians, Germans, and even Native Americans.
Everyone put their differences aside to fight a common enemy, a clear-cut villain. Perhaps no tales are more notable than the stories of the Tuskegee Airmen, the Navajo Code-Talkers, the Rainbow Division and Ben Kuroki. All of these people were of different ethnic groups, and mistreated in their pasts. However, it didn’t matter because they cared about their nation.
It wasn’t just the soldiers out fighting that made the United States win the war against Japan and Germany, but the people on the home front. The people were to ration food, volunteer services and aid each other every step of the way so that the boys back home could come back safe and sound.
Everyone played a role, every neighbor, soldier, businessman, worker, and child played a role. Everything from automobile manufacturers, to animators like Walt Disney and Warner Brothers were involved. Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny and even Captain America all played a role.
However, for the most part the people were censored information so that no one lost hope that America would win the war. For instance, it's not until 1943 that the photos of Pearl Harbor are revealed to the American public. The war had two sides, the side that served on the home front and worked and the side that saw the gruesome things the Japanese and Nazi's had done.
The people that are rightfully named The Greatest Generation went through a hell that no one today could possibly go through today. If there ever arises a Third World War, I fear that we will lose it. For those who came home, there was no form of counseling for what they had seen. The men who had left farmers, had returned as men who had seen hell in a variety of ways.
It won’t be due to our military, but because of the people at home. America may have its faults, but in truth it is better than any other nation because of the freedoms that everyone possesses. In today’s society, where things are changing rapidly and this generation is constantly demanding more and more things for free.
The people on the home front and the people at war are the key to winning a war. It's like a pillar being supported by the two, if one leaves, then the pillar collapses. This generation believes that it is entitled to all of the suffering of past generations. Many would go so far as to say that America is more racist now than in the past.
Many people in my generation would rather criticize my nation than help fix it. My generation would be the reason we would lose the war, because they would not be able to commit and play a role in the grand scheme of winning a war. Sacrifice is something that many do not know anymore, at the very least the type of sacrifices that were made decades ago.
