Bombing of the USS Shaw at Pearl Harbor[/caption]Carol Forsloff---December 7 was labeled as the day "that shall live in infamy" by Franklin Roosevelt following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. But the day did not just catapult America into war with Japan. It was a watershed moment that set a new direction and attitude for the country, a division between the era of the baby boomers and those born before and during the war.
Much has been written about the needs, drives and motivations of the baby boomer generation. Those characteristics were forged from the child-rearing practices set by Benjamin Spock and the idea that having lost time and the lives of many young men during war that those who fought that war would make sure their children would be safe and prosperous. The decades of depression and war had left an indelible memory in the minds of those folks who lived through those years as adults. It was a memory of a time and events they wanted to prevent from happening again to their children and grandchildren.
As the memories of the war began to fade, and new generations came along, what was forgotten was the community spirit that drove the nation, the pride in its strength and survival and its optimism once the war was over. And those who fought and died during World War II are fading in numbers to the extent there are too few to serve as reminders of the sacrifice of the Greatest Generation. These were people who acted on the premise that John F. Kennedy was to reiterate during his Presidency of asking not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
The entitlement generations that followed World War II came about as the older baby boomers passed along those notions that future generations should not have to suffer the calamities that had occurred during those war years and before. On the other hand, the notion of service and earning one's place in life and in the culture was lost in the mix of having to have it all.
December 7 brought America to a fully-realized leadership in the world community even as it offered a demise of certain special values of offering service, recognizing that calamity is part of the circle of life and that to have it all at the expense of others might not be the right direction for interpersonal growth. It creates social and political divisions and the need to get ahead to have it all in ways that actually do the culture harm. Even within families, those born just before or during the war have different values than those born after it, and many of the differences that occur among people have to do with the differences in how children were raised to look at themselves and others.
December 7 ushered in war. It also brought with it a change in relationships and attitude, some of which is reflected in how we behave today. It was indeed a day that shall live in infamy for those who experienced the day itself and the years that followed it as well.
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