I’ll disagree with that one a bit. I’ve spent time with many veterans over the years at many military functions. All part of the “greatest generation”.
Yes, their “outward facing” personalities were hard as stone and they seemed like men of iron. Giants capable of anything. They all had the “get it done” mentality, like I did/do.
But to a man, you get them talking and they were all very damaged below the surface. I thought I was the only one that would walk 20 mins out into the woods alone and then scream at the top of my lungs until I couldn’t any more. Like the “men of old”, you suffer in silence, never show weakness. Be a “Man”.
Many of those old boys I talked to would do the same or similar things. Suffer in silence, don’t show weakness. Be a “Man”.
My wife’s paternal great grandfather was in WWII as a paratrooper. There were things he just would not talk about and I didn’t press him. I knew his unit had dropped in to some very famous/infamous battles that were critical turning points in WWII, and if he didn’t want to talk about it I knew he had a good reason. I had an idea of what he must have endured and that the memories would be bad beyond imagining.
I was the only other “military man” in his family, even if only an “in-law”. We would walk out into the woods together at times and both scream our heads off. His service was different than mine, but the pain was the same and we understood each other that way. Brothers in arms, even if separated by several “generations”.
Just because your face to the world is strong doesn’t mean that you are inside. I was the eternally tough MWO/RSM to my guys, they all thought I was tough as nails and if it came down to a fight between me and the hurricane, the hurricane would loose. I actually have flown into a hurricane before and snatched people (
literally) from the jaws of death, which only reinforced what my guys though of me: tough as they come, a man of iron (hmmm, where have I heard that phrase before?).
But I was broken inside and just good at hiding it. Just like my wife’s grandfather. He was also good at hiding it and getting on with what needed to be done.
Previous generations simply didn’t express their pain and apprehension publicly. It wasn’t acceptable “as a man”. It doesn’t mean you’re strong or your coping with it, it means you’re good at hiding it, even if it was rotting you from the inside out. Its what we were raised to be: tough, industrious, don’t let others know you are struggling. Each man is an island. Machismo. Be a “Man”.
Successive generations are just more and more willing to talk and express it. Doesn’t mean they are less than, it means they human and they are hurting.
We’re all human, we’re all strong and at the same time all weak. Whatever particular generation is irrelevant. You’re still human….whether we’re talking war wounds or office/workplace harassment.
Not all wounds are visible:
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I straddle a couple generations. I’m the very last year or two of the boomers. Younger generations aren’t weak or lazy, they’re just different. And they’re different because the world is different, not because they are weak or lazy.
Also remember, if we think they are weak or lazy: we are the generation that raised them…before pointing that finger stop and take a good look in the mirror first.
My father taught me a different lesson than just hard work alone:
Smarter, not harder.
He’s gone now, but he did drop the occasional pearl that has served me well…
