Remembering "Our Fathers"The Builders Generation this Father's Day!

I had recently attended a Father-Son 8th Grade Reception for a Christian School recently.Each of the Dads had taken a moment to reflect on their sons, there future, and the graduating class. Sure, there were the "over the top" 21st Century Dads who were "in tears" when describing a recent family vacation to Bali. Further,there were Dads who had spent most of the time quoting scripture(instead of there own real-life experiences) that you were left with the impression that they were giving there version of Jesus's Sermon on the Mound Speech. One Dad had even claimed that "some of you will be wildly successful in life,others of you will not get very far in life."Really? is that the type of comment that you use to inspire promising young Christian Students! Dad have really changed in the Modern 21st Century Technological Age!My grandfather had told my 8th grade graduating Class that he appreciated the "close'relationships that we had amongst each other,to remain bold,trying new experiences and(always)remain loyal to your comrades! I was reared by the Builder Generation,after my own father's sudden death in 1970.My grandfather,a World War 11 US Army Bronze Star Recipient and an involved and beloved role model taught me that the "highest form"of parental love is to remain(directly) involved(on a day to day basis)in your off-spring's lives!Certainly,the amount of "Bad Boyz" would (significantly) diminish if Dads remained committed and involved in the daily affair of there offspring!

There may never have been a generation when the ratio of honorable men to slackers was higher than the one born between 1914 and 1929. These were the men that grew up during the Great Depression. They’re the men who went off to fight in the "Big One"WW11. And they’re the men who came home from that war and built the nations of the Western world into economic powerhouses. They knew the meaning of sacrifice, both in terms of material possessions and of real blood, sweat, and tears. They were humble men who never bragged about what they had done or been through. They were loyal, patriotic, and level-headed. They were our Greatest Generation!

Tom Brokaw gave them that name, and while it’s a bold claim, I (unequivocally)support it! They weren’t made out of different stuff than we are, but they were faced with greater hardships and challenges, and successfully rose to the occasion! They weren’t perfect by any means, of course, but as a whole they were a cut above the (entire)rest!

Take Personal Responsibility for Your Life

While today’s generation often shirks responsibility as "too much of a heavy burden" the Greatest Generation relished the chance to step up to the plate and test their mettle!For them, responsibility was their juice. They loved responsibility! They took it head-on, and anytime they could get a task and be responsible, that was what really got em’ going!

And when the Greatest Generation accepted responsibility for something, they also accepted all the consequences of that decision, whether good or bad. They were not a generation of whiners or excuse makers! They took pride in their personal accountability. In a time where individuals and businesses reach for a bailout or an "easy fix" of bankruptcy to make things right!

Remain Frugal(most of the time)!

If your grandparents are anything like mine, then their house is stuffed with doodads and boxes of stuff. They have a sort of pack rat mentality because they grew up in the Great Depression where the next canister of oats or pair of pants was not guaranteed. They learned to live on less and be grateful for the things they had, no matter how humble. It didn’t take a new Xbox or IPhone 7X-Plus to brighten their Christmas morning; an orange at the bottom of a stocking was enough to knock their socks off!

This was not the generation that purchased BMW's to soothe their mid-life crisis, nor the generation that equated success with the purchase of a McMansion! This was the generation that was thrilled to move into the small houses of Chicago Bungalows, which at 750 square feet were as big as some people’s garages are today.

One of the mottos of the Greatest Generation was “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” Of course, it’s hard to “make it do” if you don’t know how to fix it, and thus handiness was also central to this generation’s frugality!

Always(always)Remain Humble!

Typical of the Greatest Generation is the story of a son or daughter who finds a war medal stashed in the attic after their father passes, he having never told them about it. Even if their exploits had been brave and heroic, the Greatest Generation rarely talked about the war, both because of the difficulty in remembering such carnage, but also from the sense that they had simply been fulfilling their duty, and thus had no reason to brag.ling their duty, and thus had no reason to brag!Most had remained humble servant to the very end!

The men of the Greatest Generation took their marriage vows very seriously. Brokaw wrote, “It was the last generation in which, broadly speaking, marriage was a commitment and divorce was not an option. I can’t remember one of my parents’ friends who was divorced. In the communities where we lived it was treated as a minor scandal.” The numbers bear Brokaw’s anecdotal evidence out: of all the new marriages in 1940, 1 in 6 ended in divorce. By 2018, that number was 1 in 2.

This was a time where there was no hanging out or “hooking up.” Men asked women on real dates, and had serious intentions in doing so. When a particular gal caught a man’s heart, he proposed, and they got hitched. And they were married for the next 60 years! A great lesson in remaining committed!

The cynical 'persuasion" among us are apt to think that while the divorce rate was low, that simply means that more men were stuck in unhappy marriages. These days we’re quick to think that anyone who gets married in there early 20's and is married for decades after that, is bound to be living a life of quiet desperation. Yet I’ve met a lot of Greatest Generation couples and almost all of them are and were quite happy together.!They’re companions and best friends. What’s their secret? The answer can really be found in changing expectations. When they got married and began families it was not a matter of thinking, “Well, let’s see how this works out!” Some would argue that marriages were less happy because divorce wasn’t an option. But could it be that the opposite was true? That with the divorce option off the table the whole tenor of your marriage would change? Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad if you didn’t think there was an escape hatch, and you knew that whatever bumps you hit in the road, you had to work through them together.

Word Hard!

In war, these men had learned to focus on the objective at hand and not to give up until that objective and the mission as a whole was accomplished. When they got home, they carried that focus over to the world of work. They didn’t fall into the fallacy that Anthony Robbins has been busy denouncing, that you have to find “your passion” to be happy. They could find happiness in any job they did, because they weren’t just working for personal, self-fulfillment; they labored for a bigger purpose: to give their families the financial security they hadn’t enjoyed growing up!

As soon as they graduate college, many men today want the things it took our parents and grandparents 30 years to acquire. But the Greatest Generation knew that going into the debt was not the way to get the things you want. They understood that the good things in life must be earned by honest toil!

Embrace Challenge

The Greatest Generation wasn’t the greatest despite the challenges they faced, but because of them. Today many men shirk challenge and difficult pursuits, believing that the easier life is, the happier they’ll be. But our grandfathers knew better. They knew that one cannot have the bitter without the sweet, and that true happiness comes from overcoming the kind of challenges that build character and refine the soul. The challenges they experienced made their joy all the more sweet because it was tinged with the gratitude of knowing how easily it could all have been taken away.

Don’t Make Life So Damn Complicated!

If there’s a common thread in these lessons, it’s having a common sense and a level-headed approach to life. In our day, when men are obsessing about finding themselves, their holy grail of a woman, and their “passion,” the Greatest Generation’s uncomplicated approach to life is refreshing. They didn’t go on a diet, they simply ate whole food; they didn’t exercise, they worked around the house; they didn’t obsess about their relationships, they just found a gal they loved and married her. They always looked sharp, but never fussed with fashion trends. They didn’t mull over which appliance better suited their personality and image, they just bought the machine that worked the best. They didn’t think about how to get things done, they just got em’ done. Designers,brands and "staying amongst your own socio-economic circle had never mattered(much)to the Builders Generation!They were a generation which just gets up and goes! Instead of spending you time gazing your life away, just get up and go! Thankful and very grateful for all of the committed and involved American Dads in the lives of their children this Father's Day! Cheers!