Character
“Our children were pulled away from us before their characters were fully developed. This brief passage I ran into while sifting through old letters from my father, now long deceased. It referred to our hasty departure into military service during World War 11 and the diminishing roll of family and community on our character development. At first I was quite sure that my father meant the usual follies that youth is heir to… but time pursuaded me there was much more in his comment that even he did not foresee.
The critical period between high school and early adulthood, about 18 to 21 is normally a cumbersome, but steady period of maturation. Family and community share in it. That was lost.
But didn’t that high adventure, off to war, present each of us with unending challenges that solidified character and maturity ? I have thought if over many times and at my tender age of 82… I have concluded that the youth of our time were cheated, suckered out of those vital years. .. and we have subtly come up short over and over again. Our ability to make decisions. plan, advise, relate, evaluate… suffered from that void. I do not discount the moral and ethical aspects of this issue.
” Off to war, indeed! An artillery bombardment does not build character, it creates hamburger. How to live elbow to elbow with a thousand men is a noble condition in the minds of politicians.
At the end of that important time period, most young people should flow from high school well into adulthood. At the end of three years, we were starting over.
Anyone else ?