Life's Lessons

Bridging the generation gap

All the speculation about whether the summer blockbuster Pearl Harbor is great cinema misses the point. I think the movie, along with the earlier Saving Private Ryan, will remind yet another generation about the remarkable contributions made by the World War II generation, the men and women who Tom Brokaw rightly called the “Greatest Generation.” It is my parents’ generation.

I mention that point because I recently had a long and fascinating chat about the movie with two of my young colleagues at PacificBasin Communications. They are in their early 20s, members of a generation for whom the Vietnam War is ancient history, let alone the Korean War or World War II. But the media buzz about Pearl Harbor has educated them about the sacrifices, contributions and yes, heroism, of their grandparents’ generation.

If they spend the time to go further into history, especially within their own families, what they will discover are stories of a generation shaped first by the Great Depression and then a worldwide conflagration. The result was a generation whose work ethic was unquestioned. It is dangerous to generalize, but this was a generation that for the most part didn’t whine about life being unfair or difficult. They went out and got things done. I don’t think we can ever thank that generation enough for what it did, as young men and women, and later as they built lives for themselves and their families.

At the end of World War II, Clarence Takeuchi was serving in the U.S. Army. A few years later, Clarence and Sachiko Takeuchi became parents for the first time.

My generation, the boomers, has had an easy ride as a result. Perhaps that’s why there has been such a tendency these days to whine about life being unfair. Now, it isn’t all generational doom and gloom. In our small company, about half of the staff is 30 years old or younger. There’s no shortage of energy, enthusiasm or plain old-fashioned work ethic in our office.

We can thank my parents’ generation for that. I believe their contributions were so far reaching, that when we talk about strong values in our communities, we’re really talking about the values of their generation.

So in this summer of rediscovering our past, let’s hear it again for the generation that showed us how to do well while making do. It is a lesson that resonates even stronger today.

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