What a difference a generation makes.
There is no doubt that in the United States, the group of Americans known as the “Greatest Generation” will forever be owed a debt of immense gratitude by this country and this world.
When the time came to work through the Great Depression, which put so many people out of work, save the world from Hitler and fascism, produce the most well-educated and ambitious generation to date that would help plow new fields of scientific, medical and technological endeavors, it was the Greatest Generation that stepped up to do its American duty.
I was struck the other day by a story about a remarkable woman from the Greatest Generation named Mae Krier. Mae is 94 years young and she spends much of her time these days making masks. But they aren’t just ordinary masks that, hopefully, Americans will finally wake up, wise up and step up to help their fellow citizens by wearing and help get us all through this pandemic that threatens to bring our country to its economic knees. Notice I didn’t even mention the health crisis, which in Mae’s time would have been more than enough reason for all Americans to do the right thing.
You see, the masks that the young-at-heart Ms. Krier is making look exactly like the bandanas that came to symbolize the indomitable spirit of the women in the United States during World War ll. The difference is that the red polka dots now are designed to cover our faces instead of the heads of the women whose long hair had to be kept away from the heavy machinery they were operating during the war.
The recognizable red polka dot bandanas of Rosie the Riveter became the symbol of the indomitable spirit of the United States. When we were faced with a war we weren’t prepared for and in need of the men who operated the machines of industry but were now on the front lines of the battle for democracy and freedom, it was the women of this country who stepped out of their homes and into the factories to build our battleships, tanks and whatever else was needed for the war effort.
Mae Krier was Rosie the Riveter. As were many thousands of women across this country just like her. While our fighting men landed at Normandy and fought our enemy across the Pacific Ocean, it was the Rosies who banded together to make America work and allow the Allies to win the war.
Contrast Rosie’s generation with the generation of Americans today — I am one of them — which is fighting among itself to decide how or if to lend a hand in fighting this current world war against COVID-19. You don’t have to guess who I am talking about. Just pick somebody, anybody, over the age of about 60 and pay attention to what they are doing that would in any way mimic the American spirit of Mae Krier, who is still doing all she can to help America win.
Let’s start with President Donald Trump. Because what and whom he represents has nothing to do with the Greatest Generation, or greatness of any kind.
Yes, he represents the generation that followed greatness. But now it is our turn and our time to step up — all of us who are the children of the winning generation — to help our country and our world. And by all accounts we are failing.
And, as we know all too well, failure starts where the “buck stops”: the presidency.
But it also flows all the way down through the breadth of the United States that has refused to do what Rosie the Riveter — the Mae Kriers of our world — knew instinctively many decades ago.
“When World War II was declared, every man, woman and child just dropped everything and did what it took to save our country. It wasn’t my job or your job, it was our job,” Krier said.
Today, another generation must heed her words and “drop everything” to win this war. But we aren’t doing that, are we? We can’t even agree to wear masks when we all know they can help bring this scourge under control.
In Mae’s words, “I don’t understand why people can’t band together now.”
The fact that many of us older Americans can’t understand that and don’t “band together” makes us something other than a great generation. And it makes our country vulnerable for, perhaps, the first time in our history.
Brian Greenspun is editor, publisher and owner of the Sun.