[chajin]

I’m quite sad that this exercise is coming to an end. I feel strange about that, as though I am sad that the war is over, when one should never be sad about the end of a war.

You are correct, but the sadness is not about the end of the war, but about the end of the era. I am grateful that I did not have to fight WWII; the regret is that I was never able to experience the national unity and desire, not just for military victory, but moral victory, the chance to be part of the greatest generation. As Henry V via Shakespeare put it, we hold our manhood cheap today, as we see all those standing on the Missouri, and the countless millions they represented.

[henkster]

If my father’s generation failed at anything, it was they did not make my generation better. But maybe that can’t be helped. They wanted us to live better than they did, and so they spoiled us. Just as we spoiled our children.

And now just about everything my father’s generation worked and fought for has been blown on a two-generation bling party.