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
Interpretation
The WWII generation held steadfast values regarding commitment, particularly in marriage, viewing it as an enduring obligation.
Tom Brokaw's quote reflects on the unwavering values of the WWII generation, emphasizing their strong sense of duty, honor, and commitment to family and country. He highlights the traditional view of marriage during this period, where vows were seen as lifelong commitments, making divorce an unthinkable option. This perspective underscores a time when personal responsibility and societal expectations shaped relationships more profoundly than in contemporary society.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech about the importance of commitment in relationships during a wedding ceremony.
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.
It is, I believe, the greatest generation any society has ever produced.
You cannot have all chiefs; you gotta have Indians too._x000D_ _x000D_ Perfect love cannot be without equality._x000D_ _x000D_ A friend to everybody and to nobody is the same thing._x000D_ _x000D_ We are all alike, on the inside.
Forgive, forget. Bear with the faults of others as you would have them bear with yours.
Just remember, Someone is on your side (our side) Someone else is not While we're seeing our side Maybe we forgot: they are not alone. No one is alone.
When you are in the final days of your life, what will you want? Will you hug that college degree in the walnut frame? Will you ask to be carried to the garage so you can sit in your car? Will you find comfort in rereading your financial statement? Of course not. What will matter then will be people. If relationships will matter most then, shouldn't they matter most now?
It's not enough to be American. You always have to be something else, Irish-American, German-American, and you'd wonder how they'd get along if someone hadn't invented the hyphen
We can't win at somebody else's expense. We can only fully be satisfied when the other person's needs are fulfilled as well as our own.
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