there on the beaches of Normandy I began to reflect on the wonders of these ordinary people whose lives were laced with the markings of greatness.
Interpretation
The quote celebrates the extraordinary qualities found in ordinary people, particularly in the context of bravery and sacrifice during significant events.
In this quote, Tom Brokaw reflects on the heroism of everyday individuals, particularly those involved in the D-Day landings at Normandy. He suggests that greatness is not just found in renowned figures, but in the courage and resilience of ordinary people whose actions in times of adversity reveal their true character and the profound impact they have on history.
In practice
During a speech commemorating veterans, one might use this quote to highlight the valor of common soldiers.
The WWII generation shares so many common values: duty, honor, country, personal responsibility and the marriage vow " For better or for worse--it was the last generation in which, broadly speaking, marriage was a commitment and divorce was not an option
Your grandparents came of age in the Great Depression, when everyday life was about deprivation and sacrifice, when the economic conditions of the time were so grave and so unrelenting it would have been easy enough for the American dream to fade away.
While Pickstown may not be what it once was, it still is framed by the natural beauty of the ancient river, the sweep of the Great Plains, and the long, unbroken shoreline of the lake behind the dam. It gave me a 19th-century childhood in a modern mid-20th-century town, and for that I will always be grateful.
I am simply the most conspicuous part of a large, thoroughly dedicated and professional staff that extends from just behind these cameras, across this country and around the world, in too many instances, in places of grave danger and personal hardship. They're family to me.
I had good care going. I had Meredith and the family. And I didn't want to become the object of some kind of pity, most of all. I didn't want to show up on the Internet, 'Tom Brokaw has cancer.'
Heroes are people who rise to the occasion and slip quietly away.
We must travel in the direction of our fear.
The human spirit is stronger than any government or institution.
There are always a lot of people so afraid of rocking the boat that they stop rowing. We can never get ahead that way.
I'm so aware of the fact that if I hadn't taken the chances that I've taken along the line, I probably wouldn't be getting the best out of my voice anymore, I might have messed it up in that awful, predictable place.
Charles de Foucauld, the found of the Little Brothers of Jesus, wrote a single sentence that's ahad a profound impact on my life. He said, "The one thing we owe absolutely to God is never to be afraid of anything." Never to be afraid of anything, even death, which, after all, is but that final breakthrough into the open, waiting, outstretched arms of Abba.
War: First day in the U.S. Army, the government placed a Bible in my left hand, a bayonet in the other.
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